Seventh Degree Burns
by Mable
Summary: In a moment of passion Seven begins an affair behind Nine's back. Confused yet fulfilled, Seven continues the affair, but she's playing with fire, and unfortunately many are at risk of getting burned.
1. Chapter One: Ignite

**Mable: My new fic. I'm trying something a bit different. I usually finish a fic before I post it, but decided to post the first chapter beforehand for my own reasons. I don't own 9, enjoy!**

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_**Seventh Degree Burns**_

_Chapter One: Ignite_

It was morning from the way that light was coming in through the curtain. Lights in the hall had already been lit by an early rising Stitchpunk and signaled that it was time to embrace a new day. Seven knew it was time for her to get up and began to stretch herself out. In this moment an arm linked around her waist and someone nuzzled into her neck, "Good morning." Nine, of course, and Seven smiled, "Good morning, Nine. Did you sleep well?" Nine nodded against her.

This wasn't a new event; the two had been secretly sharing a bed for a while now. In fact, they were sharing more than a bed, they also shared kisses and pets when nobody looked. Hand holding and cuddling were also mixed in with this arrangement. So far, they had been becoming more and more comfortable with each other to the point that they had told Five about their arrangement. She had a feeling that Five was expecting their relationship to blossom as he hadn't been too surprised.

Seven rolled over and pressed into his zippered chest lovingly while his arms enveloped the female's smaller frame. Stroking over her partially missing number that had been covered by patches from past fights with beasts. It wasn't the only scar she held, but perhaps the most important one. A copper hand traced over it and brought her back to reality. "Someone might catch us." She teased; knowing that if she wasn't up early enough that the twins would come to look for her. At this Nine finally released her with a small chuckle. "Alright, alright." He started to climb out of bed, "I release you, Milady."

Apparently the twins had been reading too many of those fairy tales with Nine nearby, as he was picking up words. She shook her head and smiled playfully as she watched him somewhat stumble to the door, already knowing that her male companion wasn't very agile in the mornings. Though he'd still awaken early to move into his own room to keep what they were hiding secret for yet another day, and looked back now as he did every morning. His optics landing on her form as she lay in bed, "I love you." He'd say softly before he'd disappear through the curtain.

At this point she'd begin her day. The Warrior had a morning ritual of getting out of bed, making the bed, inspecting her armor, and then getting armed in it to embrace the day that was to come. She knew what day it was and knew that there was a change in her normal schedule. Once a week, every week, Seven would get together with the only other Stitchpunk who was willing and able to spar with her, Eight. They'd usually be out in the Emptiness for an hour going as hard as they could; she knew that if anyone could, Eight could take what she was able to assault upon him. It was tiring, but necessary if she wanted her skills to be sharpened against the Beasts.

After Seven was completely armed she ventured out into the rest of the Sanctuary. She was almost overtaken by the twins who took this time to dash by her being quickly followed by Two. The scene somewhat surprised the Warrior who decided to call to the older male, "Two?" At this time, Two had managed to catch Four and held the twin playfully, but turned back to the female, "Oh, Seven, good morning!" He released the male twin who was soon given a new direction, "You two go hide again, I'll be right there." The two soon ran off and Two turned to Seven, "We were just playing a bit."

"How are your legs?" Seven asked, hoping that Two hadn't managed to hurt his legs in the process of running. "Fine. They work even better than my old ones." He said with a smile as he glanced in the twins' direction, "And it helps the twins too. It is good that they read as much as they do, but sometimes they need to stretch their legs and have fun." The Warrior smirked, "You know what One says about fun." Two chuckled too, "The same thing he says about me running, but I still attempt it when he isn't in the room." With that, he gave a wave of farewell, and took off after the twins again.

Seven was relieved to see Two in such good health. They worried that after the Incident Two would become frailer, but it seemed to give him new life, and seemed to inspire others to have the new view on life as well. Two was always one to inspire though. In fact, it was a sign that today would be a good day, and as such she headed to find Eight. When he wasn't in the throne room, though, she realized that he was in his own room, as One was obviously not awake yet. That was a shock, but a relieved one as well. She headed through the doorway back behind the throne and down the hall.

One had his chambers at the end of the hall by Two's; it was obvious why, but nobody decided to point out to him how their 'secret' relationship was absolutely not a secret. Her own with Nine, though, was, but was only temporary. Soon they were to reveal to the others of their love and were only waiting for a little longer after the incident to do so. Eight's room wasn't too close to One's, so Seven was able to arrive into Eight's room without stirring the leader.

The second she walked through the door she saw that Eight was already awake, already wearing his shoulder guards, and was sharpening his knife while sitting on his bed. He was facing the other way and Seven glanced over his back. There was no number as his was located on his arm. She didn't know why she was staring at his back, but it certainly wasn't the first time she found herself watching him almost curiously, but she shook it off. "Eight," She spoke, leaning against the doorframe, "Ready to go?" He glanced back, "I thought you were still asleep." The Warrior smirked, "Oh? Do you need more private time with your knife?" The other retorted as he stood, "I get enough of that at night. Come on, I'm ready."

"Ready to be taught a few things about sparring?" She taunted and Eight seemed determined, "Last time was just a coincidence. I hadn't got much sleep." They exited the room together and Seven led the guard out into the throne room where she glanced over to see Nine and Five speaking. Nine knew that she and Eight had sparring events every once in a while and waved, she waved back, and then the healer waved a bit too. Eight raised a stitched eyebrow, but gave a nod of a greeting as he followed the female into the bucket lift. He took the liberty to operate the crank and lower then into the house below.

The New Sanctuary had been located in the area above a small, still standing house. This left it safe from beasts and almost completely obscured if a Winged Beast occurred. Still, though, Eight and Seven tested fate by entering the Emptiness to train. It was easier to be in the environment they knew they'd have to fight in later. Dangerous, untamed, and just how the two liked to do such. The sun was masked behind a thick sea of clouds and signaled rain later on. The two found the usual are that was somewhat cleared and faced each other in preparation. A second of bracing, waiting…

Seven was always the first to strike. She was fast and seemed to glide across the ground towards Eight who always fended off the spear's blow with his knife. The sound of metal against metal was deafening and retorted with Eight bringing down his weapon hard. She dodged with a roll to the side; knowing that his brute strength was dangerous when making contact. He was also in the same danger though and had to always make sure to move to face her, less she leap upon him from behind. She, instead, decided to quickly attack again. Impaling inward, the spear almost hit its mark, but Eight managed to move just in time. Spinning around, managing to get behind Seven, and going to hit her with his knife.

She managed to leap out of the way before the handle was brought down and she glared a bit. Eight only began using his handle when he was positive he'd get a hit in, so he wouldn't really harm her, and it infuriated her to think that he already believed he was prevailing. The emotions managed to trigger more strength and she jumped forward again, this time she tricked him by faking an attack and jumping to the side so that she could get past his shield. Instead of getting him with the spear, she swept her leg under his, and caused him to stumble. Instead of falling, like last time, he recovered and managed to get ahold of her spear in an attempt to hold her in place.

There was this weird feeling that Seven had never felt before. She felt slightly defenseless, overpowered, and there was something else that liked this bizarre feeling of submission. Never had another ever challenged her like Eight had, and never had she felt completely at another Stitchpunk's mercy. She soon realized she was staring at him again, through her helmet, and she was watching her as well. His expression was completely unreadable and soon he released her spear. Seven recovered by taking a step back and leaping again towards him. He was prepared and stepped back so that she would go by him instead of hitting him.

Then he was again coming at her, knife being carried, and Seven backed away. Even though her spear was up in defense, something kept her from fighting him off though, that same feeling from before. That's when she fought the feeling and struck back, as hard as she could, spear hit knife, knife was drawn up, spear wrestled it back down, knife was abruptly dropped, hands were suddenly on her arms, and her hands limply dropped her spear. They were both panting softly, pumped up and ready to attack, and yet she couldn't move as he slowly lifted her helmet before letting it drop onto the ground.

She should've known that something was coming. Every sparring practice had left both of them feeling awkward, not to mention the horrific incident last time when she fell upon him, but this was the first time that Eight showed any expression that he was perhaps feeling the strange warmth as she did. She was shaky and as one of his hands touched her cheek she wanted to react, but couldn't.

Then Eight's mouth crashed against hers.

All of the pent up energy was being released in a single gesture and Seven couldn't express how absolutely amazing it felt. She knew immediately that it was wrong, she was betraying Nine, but as she felt her body being steered she couldn't stop it, or him. They didn't stop until they were in a darker area, a covered area, and Seven could see out the corner of her optic that they were under the abandoned motor vehicle in front of the house of the New Sanctuary. His hands now moved, one on her back, over the half destroyed number that was her, and the other tracing over the soft fabric of her cheek.

She put her hands up to push away, but they betrayed her, and soon she had one arm around his neck pulling him closer while the other hand was rested on his strong arm. It was so different, so energetic, and the boiling warmth in her chest was bubbling out onto her own actions. The kiss was broken briefly, and she was the one to reunite them after a few pants for air. Uncontrollable, undeniable, and then everything changed when his one hand went down to her toggle and played with it a bit before beginning to open her. He soon had trouble doing so with one hand and moved his other hand to help it. Before he could do so, she finally separated herself from him, but only long enough to open herself.

There was no turning back once Seven was tugging at Eight's own buckles with a need she had no idea she needed. Her mind and reasoning seemed to be both absent. He was open too and then the rest seemed to be so sudden yet never ending. The glowing lights that signaled their souls bonding together lit the underside of the vehicle and was nearly blinding. Not nearly as blinding as the pleasure was. A gasp, a cry, and begging plea; Seven repeated the cycle over and over as Eight brought her to incredible heights of pleasure.

It wasn't until it was over and they were lying there, together, on the ground, that she realized exactly what she had done. She couldn't say a thing to explain the event. Not unlike him, as he seemed to be in shock as well, and couldn't say anything either. They did communicate though, in their actions. She moved against him, nearly cuddling against his side and resting upon his chest. His arm encircled her and held her, petting over her back; perhaps he was afraid that he had hurt her. It wouldn't be an unreasonable thought as he was much larger than she was. He wasn't what bothered her though.

Seven knew this was the worst possible thing she could've done. She was with Nine, they had kissed, they had shared a bed for many nights, and then she soul bonded with another. At the same time, though, she felt good though. There had always been that tension between Seven and Eight that had finally reached a startling and thrilling peak. It was like all of the complex pieces of Seven's puzzling existence were, for a small time, put together into one. It left her completely mixed and confused. Whether or not she regretted this couldn't be determined. While she said, and believed, that she regretted it, there was still that small bit that said she didn't.

Eventually she fell asleep and awoke later on. By time Seven's optics opened again, it was raining, and she became concerned at how long they had been out there. She shook Eight, "Eight, we have to go." The Guard awoke slowly, "What?" The Warrior continued, "The others- They'll notice we never got back." Eight immediately sat up as well. They both managed to pull themselves together; closing themselves and retrieving their armor and weapons from wherever they dropped them. Then they headed back into the house. It had surely been a few hours by now with how exhausted Seven had been and how long she must have slept.

They didn't speak in the lift and when arriving into Sanctuary they could see that One was now awake and sitting upon his throne. He looked over at them and seemed a bit questioning, "You were gone long." Seven had already been thinking of an excuse on the way and voiced it. "I went out to scout around. Eight said he waited by the lift for me to return." It had its desired effect as One seemed to assume that Eight was probably using his magnet downstairs while Seven was out. "Yes, fine." Instead he seemed to be thinking of something else so he wasn't paying much attention to them.

Seven shot Eight a look, a hesitant look, before starting to head back to her room. She knew he watched her the entire time the crossed the room until she disappeared from his sight. At this time the previous feeling that told her the event was worth it disappeared. Instead she now felt nothing but guilt, and felt unclean. Not to mention a horrific paranoia that crept upon her. She tried to adjust everything so that nothing would be noticed as being off, less someone immediately assume the worst and find the truth. Two and Five were talking in the workshop as she passed and she was relieved to not see Nine. After this incident, she just wanted to hide in her room.

Busying herself with working on armor, moving the items around in her room, doing anything at all other than leaving, Seven managed to bypass the rest of the day. Eventually it became nighttime and she knew this by the twins going into their room and going quiet; a sign that they had gone to sleep. As soon as she felt the slightest bit tired, she stopped everything and blew out her candle before crawling into bed. She pulled the covers up tight and tried to keep out the cold along with the thoughts that told her that she could never take back what she had done.

She knew she couldn't. She had soul bonded with Eight, even when she was with Nine, and it was unfixable. Just when she thought she could force herself to fall asleep she heard footsteps. Then there was the sound of a Stitchpunk sneaking into her room. She knew it was Nine and wished that he wasn't here to remind her of what she did. "Hey." He whispered as he lay beside her in bed, "Are you still awake?" She nodded, "Yeah, Nine, I am." At that Nine came closer and wrapped an arm around her waist like this morning, "I didn't see you today after you got back."

Seven quickly remembered her excuse to One earlier, "After Eight and I sparred I went out into the Emptiness for a while… I was a bit tired so I just found things to do around here, close to bed." Nine gave her a small kiss on the cheek, "Then I should let you rest." He released a small yawn himself, "Goodnight, Seven, I love you." She replied quietly, to hide the sad tone, "I love you too." Because she knew that tomorrow she would have to speak to Eight about what happened, and she didn't know if she would have any more restraint than she had today.

She had a horrific feeling that what happened would repeat again; horrified and yet intrigued.

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**Mable: I hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Chapter Two: Rekindle

**Mable: Chapter Two is here! I'm planning on making this quite a few chapters long… Well I'm aiming for seven or eight, coincidentally. Not too many but more than a few. I'm rambling to use up my author's note, if anyone hasn't noticed. Anyway, I don't own **_**9, **_**but I certainly wish I could. Or, at least, own Five… Enjoy!**

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_**Seventh Degree Burns**_

_Chapter Two: Rekindle_

Seven didn't really want to approach him about what happened the day before, but forced herself to smother the doubt and stay strong enough to do so. She waited until Two had called One to talk with him in private when she entered the back hall and then into Eight's room. She had a feeling, from how all the weapons in the room were rearranged, that Eight had retreated to her room like she did. Perhaps he couldn't face the others either. He glanced over at her, only to stop his movements from sharpening his newer blade and just stare. Perhaps he too didn't believe she would be able to face him.

"Eight," She started and leaned against the wall, "What happened yesterday… We need to talk about it." Immediately Eight assumed the worst and put his knife down against the wall. "I knew you'd regret it. I had a feeling that you'd think it was a mistake." It took the Warrior aback and she had to question him, "Do you think it was a mistake?" He paused briefly, contemplating it, and then answered honestly, "No, I don't, but I don't know much." Seven shook her head and crossed the room to stand before him, "Don't say that." Her voice was commanding and correcting; a trait she carried well and a trait that he seemed to like.

"I didn't come because I thought it was a mistake." Seven assured while her voice's volume quieted a bit, "I came because I'm confused. I don't know… I'm just confused, Eight. It happened fast and I don't understand exactly what I'm feeling." She pressed back against the wall before murmuring, "Honestly… I don't think it was a mistake either." Honestly, she was thinking about it all morning, and even though she did it behind Nine's back, she found that she enjoyed it. It was like she had needed that to happen and happen with Eight, even if it was sudden.

With this, Eight began to stand, and came forward. Seven knew what was coming before he made contact with her. As predicted last night, she couldn't will herself to resist, but now she didn't want to. Their mouths met in another kiss that was less energized and more emotion filled. It depicted exactly what Eight was feeling; everything that the Warrior wanted. At the same time she realized that at any second someone could come in and see them. Then they would know, Nine would know, and she didn't want that. She still loved Nine, even if she needed this extra burst with Eight.

She managed to pull back to the male's confusion and explained quick, "Someone could see us." Perhaps Eight knew about her and Nine's relationship, because he seemed to recognize, and be fine with, the fact that their relationship would have to stay unnoticed if it was to be continued as it was. Eight nodded in understanding and Seven had a plan, "I…" She had a second of doubt, but shook it away. "I'm going out into the Emptiness again, this evening." Eight caught this meaning and met their mouths again in a chaste kiss. After this, the Warrior slipped out of his grasp, and headed towards the door.

She gave him a small, sweet smile as she left the room, and uncontrollable one, and he knew that, no matter what, he would make sure to follow her into the Emptiness.

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Two knew that this was a risky and rushed situation that he was about to bring to One's attention, but he had to do it. It was something pressing that he had realized upon playing with the twins the day before and could make the difference between his own happiness and a void that would never be filled. He entered One's bedroom and collapsed on the small chair in the corner as he waited for the leader to enter. The leader did only a few seconds later looking confused before he went straight for the reason he was brought.

"Oh… Yes…" Two answered absentmindedly, "Well, One, I have been thinking about some things recently and looking through my thoughts and noticed something missing." He moved from the chair onto the bed and patted the bed beside him. One seemed hesitant, but did so, clutching his staff and eyeing the Inventor who stared at the floor in response. "I've been playing with the twins more recently. They are precious, so full of life. Three is becoming a beautiful young female and Four is becoming a handsome young male; so different and yet completely the same and…"

He cut off when he saw One looking like he wanted the male to hurry to the point. With a soft sigh, Two spoke quickly, "You see… I need something, One. It is something that you might think is foolish, that we don't need, but I… I need it." One huffed in a bit of frustration, "Two, just say it. What it is I will eventually know anyway." At that Two blurted it out, uncontrollably.

"I want a baby."

Silence overtook the room and Two looked down pitifully as One stared at him in shock. Then the leader repeated, "You want _us _to have a baby?" The Inventor nodded slowly but didn't say another word. After a few seconds, One decided to retort, but since Two seemed very downtrodden already he went unusually gentle. "Two, we cannot have a baby." The Inventor looked up desperately, "I think we are both responsible enough that we can raise a child betwixt us. I could do all of the work; watch it, teach it, everything." One exhaled calmly, "Even if I was to agree, we still cannot do so. If you have forgotten, we're both males."

"Yes, but we don't reproduce like humans. I'm sure if we can just create a soul and then build the body ourselves- I can put the body inside me- It would surely work." Perhaps the reason Two was becoming desperate was because he wanted a child badly. He knew that eventually the twins would become to mature to play and that eventually he wouldn't be young enough to attempt creating a life. One was having an inner conflict at the same time. He adamantly didn't want a child, but he didn't like seeing his mate this upset, and he was sure that they wouldn't be able to even have a child.

He made up his mind. "Fine then, Two. We can certainly _try_." One changed to a more solemn and serious tone, "But you must keep in mind that us having a child is very unlikely. You cannot expect us to have one just because we have tried." Two's face still lit with a smile, "I understand. Thank you, One." He then came forward and embraced One tightly. The leader sighed a bit, somewhat relieved that Two was happy now, but he was sure that would change when their efforts would come fruitless.

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Seven entered the bucket lift and lowered herself down into the house as she had yesterday. She found herself repeatedly fixing her armor and making sure it was all aligned and looked put together well; to make sure that she looked decent when Eight saw her. She hadn't tried this hard to actually look appealing since her relationship with Nine had just began. A flash of guilt passed, but she smothered it again. Seven was never one to regret actions, nor was she one to actually try to look feminine, but here she was doing both at the same time because of this event.

Slowly she headed out into the Emptiness to find an appropriate location to commit the acts she was to commit as soon as Eight arrived. The area under the car was fine at the time, but it seemed like a more hidden location that was a bit more comfortable would be better. Eventually she could something that would suffice enough; an old half empty cardboard box lying upon its side. It would obscure the light enough and the cardboard was much more comfortable than the ground. She then began to attend to the area by trying to close the box a bit more and looking around for some cloth to use.

This was interrupted when she heard a noise coming from nearby. The rhythmic sound of footsteps alerted that she wasn't alone and she had a feeling that she knew the Stitchpunk who was now trailing her. She couldn't contain a small smile that forced its way upon her face. She went to meet him and was thrilled to see that her thoughts were right. He was there, just as she offered, and at first the two could only stand there awkwardly. However, Seven recovered, and beckoned for the male to come with her, "Over here. I found a place where we can-…" She cut off with a soft sigh and began to head back towards the box.

Eight eagerly, and loyally, followed her every step. He couldn't really understand why Seven was willing to be intimate with himself, but was willing to not question it, as long as she still seemed willing and pleased with their actions. As she slipped into the box he seemed to have a second of doubt, mostly of if someone could find them this close to the Sanctuary, but she was back at the entrance to beckon him the rest of the way into the covering. She discarded her helmet upon some sort of old shoe that was inside the box before dropping her spear to the side. That had been all that she brought at this time.

Eight quickly removed his own belongings and dropped them wherever they fell. It amused the Warrior who suppressed any soft laughter that could occur from the realization of exactly how little care Eight put into arranging items, unless it was, of course, to waste time. However, even with this behavior, Seven liked it. It was just like Eight to be focused so much on one thing that everything else could go relatively ignored. It only helped that the one thing he was focused on now was her. She liked that and she liked him, and even though it was wrong she was willing to do this.

Apparently Eight was still hesitant to jump forward and begin as they had yesterday; he probably guessed he'd do something wrong, so Seven decided to begin. She slipped down to the back of the cardboard box, watching the other who was watching her with much interest, and leaned back against one arm as the other came forward to address her toggle. That got him to move, finally, and soon he was above her, mouth raining down upon her neck as she tried to keep steady breathing even with the sighs and moans. He had to have done this with someone else before her, she believed, because he was very good at what he was doing.

She was opened and this time Eight actually took the time to look at her instead of rushing. His hand reached in and was surprisingly gentle as it traced over her inner metal frame. It caused her to tremble and her hands struggled to grasp at the cardboard below her. He didn't rush her, he didn't push her, and she had to grasp his wrist and make him move a little faster. "I-." She cut off with a soft pant, "I'm not fragile." Eight suddenly smirked and moved his hand to another area that was sure to get a louder reaction, and when she cried out he taunted, "You sure about that?"

In retort, Seven huffed, and put her foot on his chest, "Enough, You." He stopped his movement and now she smirked before moving to grip his buckles. She was determined to get a similar reaction of weakness from the male. She managed to get him open and went to address his insides, but could get past him trying to repeatedly latch back onto her neck. She felt playful and giddy underneath his assault though and their lips met yet again. They soon decided to stop the light touches and move on to exactly what they had ended up coming for in the first place, as Seven was pulled open more and a dim glow began to immerge from her insides.

She soon recognized his soul as well as their frames touched, uniting into one once again, and she cried out with all that she could. Her hands grasped at his shoulders and she was sure that he was the only thing keeping her somewhat up. That changed when he rested her back on the ground and moved above her. The lights were blinding, but Seven's vision already began to fade into white. It was so amazing; better than anything she had ever gone through before. More, stronger, brighter, faster, and hitting the point of no return. There really wasn't a real return after this, though.

Then there came the same exhaustion that came after their last session together. After a few minutes of getting her breath back, Seven went to warn Eight of them having to return, but was interrupted by his own words. "I love you." They came so quickly that Seven found herself shocked. The only one who said that before was Nine, and yet he sounded just as sure. She felt an edge of concern as the own words couldn't come from her mouth. She cared about Eight, she liked him, but she couldn't yet say that she loved him like that.

Thankfully, he spoke again, "It's fine if you can't say it back. I didn't expect it." The Warrior immediately went into defense, "Eight, wait, I-." He cut her off, "You don't have to say anything. This whole thing happened kind of suddenly, so I really didn't expect you to say it back yet. I just had to say it now or I wouldn't have been able to later." Certainly being in such a position after the events would lead them to slip their tongue a bit more easily. Instead of answering, Seven cuddled closer to him, as to show him affection without having to say the words.

If she said those words, that would be the worst betrayal to Nine, and she knew at least she hadn't said that, given everything away.

After a little resting, they straightened themselves, and started to head back. While they walked back together, Eight waited downstairs as Seven went up the bucket lift alone. It was now evening time and she hoped that the others would be too busy to notice her returning. In the throne room she could only see Six and he didn't seem to be paying attention, so she headed to her room to get more much needed rest.

* * *

Six noticed Seven walk by and sighed a bit before looking back at his picture. He had been watching the bucket lift all day, waiting for Eight to return, but the Guard had still not done so. Since yesterday morning the normal bullying attacks had taken an unexpected halt for no visible reason that Six could fathom. One hadn't told Eight to stay away from Six, and the last time he said that Eight conveniently forgot, and nothing had happened to injure Eight, so there wasn't a clear reason why he hadn't come for Six as he used to do nearly on an hourly basis.

Usually it was simple things, nothing physical. Intimidating looks and small smirks from across the room before the male would come upon the smaller. He always waited for contact between their optics before he would actually do anything though. Then he'd do a variety of things depending on his mood and what interaction Six and him had earlier. If they didn't have any contact previously and Eight was in a good mood he'd usually snatch up on of Six's drawings and keep it out of the other's grasp as long as possible. If he was caught by one of the others, he would release the drawing, but if he wasn't then he would certainly tear it up.

He tore it up slower it he was purposely trying to draw it out, making the smaller watch pitifully as all he work was erased, and on the worse days, when they had contact earlier, Eight would usually go for more drawings. If it was a really bad day for Eight with him in a furious mood and wanting to take out all anger on Six, he would do something crueler like dump ink over his head or confiscate his key for a while. That was why Six never ran from Eight; it was easier and safer if he just let the male do what he wanted to, less the consequences be greater.

Still Six missed Eight. Because, in the end; even if he was willing to throw every word Six said back into his face with the force of burning venom, at least Eight was willing to listen to do so. Nobody else gave Six that much attention. Being honest though, Six didn't dislike Eight. In fact, he found Eight interesting. He was uncontrollable and brash, unpredictable and willing to state his mind if he could, unless it was to One, and it was so different that the Artist felt a kinship to the larger. Even though it was the larger who left the striped one nearly isolated. He tortured him, and yet he seemed to keep Six alive, less he wouldn't feel anything at all.

The bucket lift was soon rising again and Six was waiting, watching, and his pulse began to rise as he waited. His prediction was right, this time it was Eight. They made the dreaded eye contact and Six abruptly looked away from the larger to stare at his drawing that he thought would soon be destroyed. This second prediction turned out to be wrong though as, shockingly, Eight ignored Six and went back down the hall to his room. The Artist was in pure disbelief and scurried over to the hallway's entrance before peering down inside of it. He caught a last glimpse of Eight vanishing into his room.

Even more confused, and feeling a bit lonelier, Six returned to his corner to draw once again, hoping that Eight would soon go back to normal.

* * *

When Nine entered to go to bed, Seven braced herself to be acting normal and pleasant to him. "How was your day?" She asked with a smile, making up for the feeling that she had done something terrible to him. The zippered male smiled in return and sat down on the bed by her, "Pretty good. I helped Five draw up some new maps, walked around, that's about it." Then he lay beside her and threw an arm around her, "What did you do today?" The Warrior didn't want to lie and so choose her words carefully, "Nothing to extraordinary. Mostly the same thing I did yesterday."

He let his burlap lips address her pale forehead, and she accepted the kiss before returning one of her own. "I love you." He whispered softly as he pulled the blanket up to cover them. Seven had a flash of memory, remembering what Eight had said before when they were together. Both of them had been so sweet, had been so sure, and while she said it to Nine she now wondered if she could repeat the same term to the guard who had taken half of her heart from Nine. Perhaps Nine took her softer response as a signal that she was tired and wet quiet to let the female get rest.

Still, Seven couldn't rest, and could only think about the consequences of what she was doing. Something was bound to go wrong eventually, but she was willing to risk it.

She was willing to risk everything.

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**Mable: End of chapter! Nothing much to say, so I hope you enjoyed!**


	3. Chapter Three: Flicker

**Mable: Here is chapter three! Nothing to report so I'll cut the Author's note short. ^-^ I don't own **_**9, **_**Enjoy!**

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_**Seventh Degree Burns**_

_Chapter Three: Flicker_

After an uneventful week, with only one time having gone out into the Emptiness to get intimate with Eight, Seven decided to give back to Nine for having neglected him. She had promised to spend some time with him and today seemed like the right day to do so. Five and Two were busy on the roof, trying to attempt to make another watchtower, so the Warrior went with Nine and the twins to go see them. To do so, they would have to go through the attic part of the house that the sanctuary was located in.; the very dark and very dusty attic that Seven wasn't especially fond of.

Though she never realized that she was being followed into the attic by another Stitchpunk, who hadn't mentioned he'd come, until the last second. Inside the tight space of the attic Seven had let her guard down a bit and smiled as she watched the twins looking over the plans that Five and Two had tacked to the walls of the attic. Two was gesturing up at the roof as he mentioned what they were planning to put up there and had both Five and Nine's whole attention. Seven was some ways away when suddenly she felt arms around her waist, pulling her back behind a large box.

She used her spear and struck the back of it into her captor's abdomen, causing a soft grunt of pain, and Seven huffed in recognition, "Eight, what are you doing here!?" She whispered harshly and the male went to his own defense, "I had to see you. It's been a few days-." She quieted him, as he wasn't whispering very quietly, and then checked to see if the others noticed. They hadn't noticed her disappearance and she exhaled to calm herself before pulling behind the box again. She crossed her arms in a scolding manner as she looked to the male, "If you haven't noticed, the others are standing right there."

"Yeah, but they're busy." The guard waved it off and reached forward to lock his arms around her small frame, pulling her close to him yet again. She knew she couldn't be mad as their mouths met again though. It had been her own fault since she had bluntly avoided him for the last two days out of guilt. Again, though, the guilt couldn't suppress what she was feeling for Eight, and it daily got easier to manage.

Their mouths couldn't be separated as they grasped each other tightly. Then, abruptly, Eight changed pace as his hand slipped down to undo Seven's front, playing with her toggle a bit before opening her. The cold, thick air sent her to shivering as Eight did his best to shield her from such. She noticed that he didn't open himself up as well. It was soon realized that he came strictly for her pleasure as he began to caress her insides. Her head rested back against the forgotten items behind her and she tried to contain any noises of pleasure that could be released.

Eight took her mouth again as his touches began to quicken, attempting to push her towards her peak of ecstasy. No longer did she worry about any of the others and merely accepted the pleasure up until she heard something through the clouds of her mind. "Seven?" It was Nine, he was looking for her, and here she was being fondled by Eight. Eight didn't break them apart and rather moved Seven back into the crowded attic as to buy them some time. He continued to push her towards the end and she didn't question his motives in the slightest; she trusted him with everything she had.

Then she hit the end. He managed to block the light from her soul so it couldn't be seen by anyone else. It didn't glow as brightly as when combined with another and seemed to reach out for something. It didn't feel as good as with him, either, but it still felt amazing, and when the Warrior came down she found him closing her up again. He kissed her again and set her back on the ground. Seven didn't even realize he had been holding her up, or that her legs had been wrapped around his mid-section, and allowed herself to be lowered without complaint.

After about fifteen seconds of deep breaths, she was able to face Nine. Eight spoke quickly before she left, "How about we meet tonight? I love you." She nodded, "Yes, fine, I love you too." Then she circled the box and headed out. Apparently Nine assumed that Seven had left and looked upset, but wasn't still looking. Upon Five seeing Seven, he nudged Nine and gestured over. When the zippered male saw her his face lit up in a smile. "There you are! I thought you left." She quickly came up with a story that wasn't a lie, "I was just going through the attic. I sort of got caught up and it took me a second to get back out here."

Nine didn't ask questions, he just gestured to the makeshift lift to the roof. "Two went up already. He said that he'd show us how much they've got done if you want to go look at it with me." She crossed to the lift at the suggestion, "Of course, let's go." She glanced back as Nine walked up beside her and caught Eight leaving the attic. He was watching her though and had a weird look on his face, maybe it was confusion.

Perhaps she didn't realize exactly what she slipped up and said or exactly what kind of affect it had on Eight.

* * *

When he agreed on trying for a baby, One hadn't expected this sort of horrible experience to occur. He only thought that they would try a bit, fail, Two would be upset for a bit, and then they would move on with their lives. However, things had to take a turn for the worst, nothing could ever be simple. One didn't want a baby. They were too much trouble, they had to have extensive work done to help them, defenseless and clueless creatures who trusted too much. Too small to fight, too little to walk, too young to talk; babies were terrible and One certainly didn't want one.

Or, at least, that was what he said last night.

All it took was a full night of Two talking about children and suddenly One felt the creeping feeling of horror gaining on him. For the entire day he could think of nothing except for having offspring. Pure, innocent children who would love him indefinitely. A little being that would look up to him like the others hadn't. Would never betray him, would always love him, and would eventually take over his throne. No, not take over, be given. An heir who would take One's words to heart and be a wonderful leader who wasn't biased on anything except making his father proud.

In the long run, One's nonexistent heart was set upon the same nonexistent baby that Two wanted so badly. He hated the thought that he was so weak, but the thought of something, a perfect being, that he could create with Two was undeniable. Perhaps this is why he found himself pacing his room thinking of exactly how Two and he could increase their chances of creating a baby's soul. It would mean more soulbonding, of course, but perhaps more rest and less physical activity could help. Not that he could honestly say he did extensive exercise of any kind.

"A baby." One repeated and followed it with a scoff; such a ridiculous thought to be obsessing over something that couldn't be created. Even if Stitchpunks could reproduce, One and Two couldn't do so, because both were male. While One hadn't denied the relationship because of being same gender, nature itself would deny them a child. Still, though, One couldn't fight the urge to at least try. He had to try, he wanted that nonexistent baby, and was ready at this point to try anything to bring it into existence.

Until then, though, he decided to address his recent annoyance involving a disappearing bodyguard.

* * *

He was certainly trying as hard as he could to be romantic, and Seven took it with a smile. He led her across the roof away from Five and Two once the sun began to set. They soon sat themselves down on the roof's shingles and basked in the warmth left by the golden sunset. The zippered male put an arm around her waist and rested his head against hers. She rested back, relaxing, and having a second without feeling like she was doing something wrong. Instead she just took a moment to enjoy her significant other as they stayed together silently on the rooftop.

She really did love Nine, but thinking about it brought up the fact that there were just things that Nine couldn't give her that Eight could. As bad as it sounded, she needed the guard to complete what Nine couldn't. The serenity was disrupted by thoughts of Eight and the acts that were done with him. Now all she could think of was later when they would meet again and once again engage in the acts of lovemaking. "It's nice up here." Nine pointed out, oblivious to Seven's inner war. She composed herself, "It really is. Especially once Two and Five finish the new watchtower."

Glancing over she could see Five and Two working on a base that rested against the chimney, looking like they were having a good time and seemingly worry free. Meanwhile, she still couldn't get Eight out of her head, and it only began to be controllable once the sun set and they all decided to head back downstairs. Five and Two went first and left Nine and Seven alone longer, perhaps purposely, and in this time Nine decided to take Seven's lips. Something in the Warrior made her nervous that he would be able to tell that her lips had been used on another; but he didn't.

Seven kissed back and their arms locked together as their lips played with each other. However, unlike with Eight, the kiss was somewhat predictable. Nine was still new to kissing so he usually kept his actions simple and all he did was move his hand to caress the back of her head. It was certainly sweet though and the Warrior remembered exactly what led her to loving Nine, even if it wasn't with her entire being. When they pulled apart, Seven couldn't say that she didn't feel satisfied and the feelings she had for Nine before were rekindled as they headed to the lift together.

Still it wasn't enough. As much as she scolded herself, she couldn't say that she wasn't thinking of her meeting with Eight once they arrived to the safety of the Sanctuary. Even though she felt renewed by Nine she still couldn't suppress the feelings of lust and powerful attraction. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sound of One scolding someone. It took her only a short time to deduce that it was coming from Eight's room. She looked to Nine, "You go on ahead. I'm going to see what he's going on about." While the zippered one nodded, Five seemed hesitant.

"Are you sure? He's not in a very good mood. Two said that we should avoid him." Indeed, if Two was the one to say to avoid One then it was certain that he was in a raging mood at best. Still Seven wanted to go to Eight's aid and exhaled calmly. "I'm not going to fight with him, Five. I'm just going to go see if I can figure out what is wrong now." She crossed the room, undeterred, and sure that the leader was rambling about something else that Eight had done. However, she didn't expect to enter the hall and have the first thing she heard pertaining to their recent actions.

"-constantly disappearing for no reason! If I hear that you are using that _thing _to get pleasure from again, I will confiscate it! You know that it will do nothing but destroy your mind!" Seven would've spoken up, but couldn't, having turned to stone once she realized that One had noticed their disappearances. It was only a matter of time before he realized how they disappeared at the same time. When he suddenly stormed out, she was forced to regain compositor to face him. He immediately looked at her, obviously annoyed already, and huffed, "What are you doing, standing in the middle of the hallway?"

"Listening to you going off on Eight." Seven retorted and One scoffed, "Of course you wouldn't understand, by how you come and go as you please." At that he stormed off with a few grumblings under his breath and Seven released her own, audible, huff of annoyance. The leader hadn't seemed to understand the coincidences that seemed to rest with both vanishing and seemed more angry at something else than them. Looking to make sure nobody was watching, Seven dipped into Eight's room and smiled at the guard. The male was moving things around again, but seemed to not be too upset with One's yelling.

"Hey." Seven greeted, "Are you okay?" Eight shrugged, "I'm fine, but he's starting to notice me leaving. He's going to figure us out." The female looked down; if Eight wasn't brushing the incident off then that meant it was supposed to be concerning. "Perhaps…" She murmured, "But Nine almost caught us too." Eight didn't respond; perhaps he also felt guilty about betraying Nine, up until this point he hadn't said whether he knew of her and Nine's relationship or not. She crossed the room and sat down on Eight's bed, "I heard him yelling, but I couldn't come in. I should have, but I couldn't face the accusations."

"It's better that way." Eight insisted, sitting beside her, "If he heard you defending me then he would've known that something was up." They sat there a minute longer before suddenly Eight wrapped his arms around Seven's frame. At first she welcomed the comforting embrace, but then tried to push away, "I told Nine and Five I'd be right back. They'll come after me." The other seemed reluctant to let go, but did. "Should we skip tonight and meet tomorrow?" Seven paused at the thought before coming with a solution. "I go to bed early. I'll make the others think I'm in bed and slip back here."

He nodded, slowly, and she continued, "In the meantime, just act normal so One doesn't suspect anything." The male seemed amused, "He suspects it when I act _normal_." She smiled at him and leaned up to give him a chaste kiss on the mouth before standing to leave. "Wait Seven-." Eight stopped her and she looked back to see a war of emotions on his face. He then waved it off, "You know, never mind, we'll talk about it later." The pale female stared at the male before nodding and leaving the room to the hall. She then headed back down to return to Nine's side.

* * *

Two left Five's side when Seven entered the workshop. As she was speaking with him and Nine, Two decided to retreat and figure out what One was ranting about earlier. He couldn't say he wasn't a bit fearful of getting completely drug in and being demanded to express his own opinion on the matter, but decided to face the leader just the same. He found One on his throne, alone, staring at the vent covered window with an unreadable expression. "One?" Two asked, noticing that the supposedly angry leader was looking actually quite melancholy. "Are you alright?"

One glanced over, uninterested, and looked back to the window. "I am perfectly fine." Two didn't believe it for a second and rested against One's armrest. He had an idea of what could cause a sudden mood change though, "Is this about what we decided to try?" He didn't say 'the baby', because One had scolded him the last time Two referred to it as that, saying that the Inventor was putting all of his trust into a nonexistent baby, and then leaving to his room to prove a point. So One's next comment shocked Two, "No, Two, this has nothing to do with the baby. This has to do with Eight hiding something form me."

The anger didn't cover the slip of the tongue. "This isn't about Eight." Two reassured, "Because you said this morning that you didn't like me saying 'the baby' as I'd form an attachment to an inanimate object." One seemed exasperated, "And I still mean it." Two corrected, "And you still said it." He paused before continuing, "You called it 'the baby', you did the same thing I have been doing, and I know you can't be acting like this because of Eight's recent ventures into the Emptiness." Instead of admit that Two was right, One stood abruptly, "I care little for something that is a mere thought."

After that hiss, One began to head towards his room, "That's the end of it! I don't want to hear another mention of it!" He would've slammed his door if it wasn't just a curtain and yet Two winced all the same before exhaling slowly, and trying to figure out a way to approach One without making the situation worse.

* * *

Seven couldn't say she wanted to face the cold night outside of her warm bed, but after a while of laying here she was sure that Nine was asleep and thus slid out of his grasp. She didn't bother grabbing her armor and instead slipped out of her room quietly. A few of the others would still be awake; Six was always awake at this time, Five and Two were probably working late, and perhaps even One would still be stalking the halls. Either way she slowly made her way down the darkened halls to the throne room. It was empty and a cold chill came through the vent window.

After a brief shiver, Seven headed directly to Eight's room, where she opened the curtain to see that Eight was awake. He had waited for her and yet seemed surprised, "Didn't think you'd come." He murmured quietly and Seven crossed the dim room, "Didn't think you'd still be awake." He was on the bed and so she decided to be frisky and leapt atop of him. While taking him back, he immediately grabbed onto her and went to meet their lips. Even this close to the others they decided to begin, not able to stop themselves, and began to nearly tear each other open.

No beginning interaction like usual, because Seven wanted everything at this second, and she was trying her hardest to have Eight not change their positions. She wanted to stay on top this time. The second he attempted to flip them, she began to fight, and it was a war of wills between them. He made sure not to hurt her, though, and that was his downfall as she managed to keep her position on top with a proud smirk. She opened Eight's buckles and was determined to do the same to him as he had done to her in the attic.

Her hands, her lips, meeting and caressing as much of the inner metals as possible, and he was getting wound up. She knew she was pushing too much and expected when Eight flipped her onto his back and took over yet again. She was opened, her toggle toyed with again, and he went to touch her insides. She stopped him though, clearly seeing her own soul's light beginning to glow brighter with arousal. Seven instead spoke with gasping breaths, "Now, quick, I need you." He didn't hold himself back and as they met they began to move together.

Seven couldn't deny the she had been waiting for this all day. Pure pleasure and gasping, she clutched to him as before and made sure they weren't separated even a small bit, keeping their souls bonding together and separating apart again. Then Eight abruptly stopped and Seven was disappointed, "Eight?" She sighed in disappointment as Eight looked back towards the door, "I think I heard someone." But Seven couldn't think straight, and huffed, "Everyone should be busy. I'm sure it was nothing." Her hand moved to his cheek and pulled him to face her, their lips meeting again.

They managed to smother the noises as they moved together again. Every movement was pure pleasure and they knew that they would soon reach the end. Then it came at full force, causing the Warrior to nearly cry out if not for being smothered by Eight's lips. It was better than the previous touches in the attic and it was completely worth leaving her bed for. As she began to come back down from the height of her climax, Eight decided to question her, "You said earlier that you loved me, did you mean it?" It had been circling his mind all day until this point, whether or not that single sentence meant something.

For a few seconds Seven couldn't answer. In reality, it had been just a slip-up, but she did mean it. However, it also made her realize that she meant it when she said it to Nine. That didn't mean she didn't mean it when she said it to Eight, though, and so she answered quietly, "Yes, I did." She didn't have to add the comment about the feelings for Nine; they didn't matter at the moment.

At least Eight seemed elated at the answer and their lips met again before he held her close. She went to pull away, to remind him of them being seen, but Eight reassured her he'd awaken her in an hour to return to bed. She was willing to accept this, accepting the warmth from Eight and from the blankets now pulled over her, and let herself drift off. She ignored any fear of them getting caught.

Neither realizing that they had already been caught.

* * *

**Mable: And so they've been caught, but by who? Only time will tell! Expect the next chapter sooner than this one. I hope you enjoyed!**


	4. Chapter Four: Heat

**Mable: Chapter four! I don't own _9, _Enjoy!**

* * *

_**Seventh Degree Burns**_

_Chapter Four: Heat_

He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe what he saw, blame it on a delusion or vision instead, but there was no denying that his mismatched optics had just witnessed that scene. Him, her, him above her, her below him, the lights of souls, and what they were doing was quite clear to someone even as innocent as Six was. He knew what they were doing, but worse; he knew what the action meant. So he had run as fast as he could to his room where he hid inside like he was hiding from the two, like they would follow him back here.

Having grown weary of Eight's odd behavior, Six had decided to swallow his fear and go check on him. Worst case scenario; Eight didn't like him even near his room and began to bully again. Then again, Six wanted Eight to be near him again, so this was also considerably better than spending more time alone. He hadn't ever taken in the thought that he'd be with her, in bed, sharing their souls with each other. It made Six feel even more unstable and as he sat against the drawing covered wall of his bedroom. He felt pounding in his insides and tried to calm himself down yet again.

It didn't work though because all he could think of was Eight and Seven together. He whined pathetically as he tried to get the scene out of his mind. It wouldn't go away though and he was only brought back to reality when he heard footsteps approaching his room. He didn't want to face Eight and was relieved when Five appeared. The healer looked at Six in concern, "I heard you run by. Are you okay?" Six looked down at his legs which he had pulled up to his chest and decided to voice exactly what he saw. His voice was shaky, though, and he spoke quietly.

"I saw… I saw Seven… With him… In bed… They were…" Five seemed to catch on and looked sympathetic as he crossed the room and sat next to the Artist, "I think I know what you're trying to say. I know about it too." Six's head shot up, "You do?" His voice was still nearly a whisper and Five nodded slowly, "Yeah, they were keeping it a secret for a while." It didn't make Six feel any better, but at least someone understood, and at least Five acted like it wasn't too traumatizing. An arm was wrapped around his shoulders and Five held him with a smile.

"I know it's different, and I know Seven is like a sister to us, but it's going to be okay." Six nodded solemnly, and Five continued, "I trust Nine will take care of her." It took a few seconds for Six to catch a difference in Five's words to his own witnessing events, "Nine?" He asked as his optics slowly rolled to angle in Five's direction. Five nodded, "The incident was just a mistake, we all know that, and I think that he will be good with her." Six didn't know how to respond except stare as he tried to figure out why Five thought Nine was the one with Seven.

"Did you…" Six asked softly, "Did you see them? Is that how you knew?" He suddenly assumed it had been dark when the Healer caught them and mistook Eight for Nine. He only had one optic, so perhaps the depth of the room seemed askew, and somehow a mistake took place. When Five explained, though, Six's answer wasn't reached, "Nine and Seven told me a while ago about their relationship. I promised not to tell anyone until they settled into the New Sanctuary a bit more." The striped one slowly nodded and Five patted his back, "Why don't you get some rest?"

"Okay." Six whispered and stood, pretending to cross to his bed, but really waiting until Five left with a 'goodnight' before he tried to figure out what was going on. He couldn't understand why Nine and Seven would say they were in a relationship when Seven was with Eight, in his room, sharing souls. Unless, of course, she was in a relationship with both. He wasn't sure why Eight would be willing to share his mate with another, though, and the entire event disturbed him. As he sat down on his bed he started to finally realize that everything wasn't as clear cut as he thought.

The fact of Seven being with two males wasn't exactly what bothered Six, and he now realized this. What bothered him was the fact that Eight had shared his soul with another, and the Artist couldn't deny that he was upset that it hadn't been himself. With that realization, he dropped his head into his hands, and began to cry.

* * *

Being together in the morning and joining bodies together was a sacred union of pleasure. Of course, One would have been more pleased afterwards if it had not been the third time they had done it in the last hour. Two was beside him with his front now closed, rubbing on his stomach as to stimulate something to happen, and One exhaled softly, "Perhaps we should wait for a bit longer before trying again." The Inventor nodded with a very content smile gracing his features, "Yes. We will try a few times again this afternoon." The leader looked at the ceiling, "You're trying to kill me."

With this, Two began to laugh, "Yes, I am." He teased, "I plan to use your entire soul for the baby instead of making one myself. Now where did I put the Talisman?" He mocked leaning over to check under the bed and One retorted, "I would not put it past you, and shouldn't you be rubbing your abdomen still?" It took Two a second to pull himself back up, "Trouble straightening myself; I take that as a sign." One scoffed, "That you are top heavy?" Two playfully retorted back, "Now One, we all know that nobody is more top heavy than you. What with your crown and such."

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown." One pointed out and Two shrugged in the same teasing manner, "Perhaps for balance purposes. To rival the already heavy crown, especially that glass one you insist to wear." He then leaned over and rested upon One's chest, lovingly cuddling against him as One stroked his back. After a bit of quiet, he decided to speak, "Let's say that this works, and we have a baby, have you thought of names?" The leader didn't answer right away and right when he was about to say that he hadn't, Two began speaking again.

"I was thinking of combining our numbers. Not in the sense of making three, as Three already has taken that number, but perhaps Twelve or Twenty-One." While seemingly disturbed by the fact that Two was already choosing names, One decided to please him be playing along. "Twelve sounds more feminine than Twenty-One. Perhaps we should use that if we had a daughter and the other if we had a son." Two seemed to like this as he nodded against his mate, "And if we have twins? What shall we do then, just call them the twins?"

One waved it off, "Of course not, we would refer to them as 'our twins'. The others would have to call them 'highnesses." With this, Two laughed again, "And what shall they call you? 'Your highness, the one with slanted optics and a very heavy head'?" A small glare was received, but One didn't push Two away and continued to pet him. Once calmed again, Two continued to speak. "I can't very well be a mother… Perhaps I can go as 'Papa'. I'll give you the title of 'Father' and we'll leave out the part about your head." Two didn't notice how One slowed a bit after those words.

Even with the title of 'the leader', One couldn't deny that he wanted the title of 'Father'.

* * *

Seven awoke and immediately noticed something was wrong. This wasn't her bed at all, and soon she realized she was still in Eight's room. She sat up with a gasp of horror, "Eight!" His arm was draped over her and she shoved it off. This was felt by Eight who began to awaken, "What's going on?" Seven huffed in annoyance and glared in Eight's directions, "An hour?" The guard paused, and then winced, "Must have fallen asleep." Seven wasn't mad, but certainly annoyed, and closed herself up before climbing out of the bed. Her movements were interrupted by the sound of rumbling thunder through the walls.

"Guess that means we aren't meeting up today." Eight pointed out as he watched her head to the door and she nodded, "For the best. One might get suspicious." With that she gave him a last smile, "Don't sleep in too late." Then disappeared through the curtain into the Sanctuary. She heard him respond with another 'I love you', but was too far away to respond without risks of being caught saying it. Now, though, she realized that she would have to come up with some sort of excuse to Nine.

As she entered the throne room she saw Nine standing by the lift, talking to Five and the twins. "Good morning." She greeted and Nine looked over curiously, "Morning Seven. Where have you been?" She shrugged it off as though it was nothing, "I've just been up, walking around for a bit. Are you leaving?" Nine nodded, "Five said he needed to find some extra parts for the watchtower, some sort of… Wetch?" Five corrected this, "Winch, something we can use as a winch." Naturally Five would know exactly what tools, such as this winch, would be used for, and yet Seven seemed confused. "It's raining. I could hear the thunder through the walls."

Five didn't seem surprised, "I heard it, but I really need to get the part." He then added, "Besides, I think a little water could do me good." This caused his best friend to laugh carefree; Seven smiled as she took in the sweet sound that she very much enjoyed. After last night, perhaps some time with Nine would be nice. "I'll come with you. Let me just grab my things." She headed back to her room while they waited at the lift. The twins followed her a bit and even watched as she put her armor on, childishly curious and idolizing what anyone older did with interest.

However, as Seven entered the hall again, she noticed another. Looking over she caught a glimpse of Six who quickly ducked back into his room. She was a bit confused, but dismissed the event as Six just acting a little strange from lack of sleep. Later she planned to speak to Six and try to reassure him to get more sleep, but decided not to do so right at this second. Instead she led the two younger Stitchpunks back to the throne room. They boarded the bucket lift with Nine and Five who were speaking about something, Seven wasn't paying attention to what they were talking about, and they lowered into the house below.

The weather certainly was rough and Five looked like he was second guessing the plan to come out. The rain was pelting down upon the rubble and dirt to make a slickened wasteland of mud and muck. There was also the distance howl of wind that seemed to be bringing darker clouds to coat the sky. Not to mention that the rumbling of thunder seemed constant. "I think we should come back later." The healer suggested to his allies, but was dismissed. "It'll be fine." Nine assured as he turned to his friend, "If a little water can do you good, then this should be a great opportunity."

Seven began to step out under the raindrops and let the cold liquid fall upon her. She could hear Five whispering, as to spare the twins of worry, "Beasts hunt in this kind of weather," he pointed out, "It could be dangerous." Again, Nine seemed to dismiss it, and Seven backed him up, "Five, it'll be fine. You just worry about finding your winch." With both others sure that they would be fine, Five finally caved, and lagged behind as they all stepped out of safety. It soon became apparent that both Nine and Five were struggling, unlike Seven who moved quick enough that she didn't sink into the mud like they did.

However, she knew they wouldn't be as covered in mud as the twins would be when they made it back. The twins categorized everything, learning and teaching the others of amazing findings, but they were still young and she didn't have to watch them to know that they would soon be playing in the mess. With the sound of a light splash she could just imagine one of them now coated in dirty water. At least they weren't throwing mud at each other. However, that was countered when Nine fell over, Five couldn't control his laughter, and Nine retorted by grabbing a handful of mud and slinging it at his friend, only to miss.

Seven shook her head with a pleased smile; Nine certainly was something different. As Five started to dig through some nearby rubble, Nine aiding him, and the twins were now playing in a deep puddle, Seven decided to head ahead and scout. Seven enjoyed the rain; after the incident it always reminded her of her family coming back to life. Not to mention that it was refreshing, even when a flash from far off signaled lightning. Both Three and Four jumped and Five could be heard speaking, "We should hurry. Lightning isn't as 'good for us' as rain is." Seven still wasn't as concerned as they were though.

She continued off a little ways and took this time to go through her thoughts. She confronted herself with a new and obvious problem that she had to face eventually, the choice between who she would choose. She wasn't that naïve, she knew that she couldn't have both forever, but she didn't know how to choose. Nine was kind and playful, but so was Eight, Nine was more adventurous, but Eight was stronger, Nine made her feel happy, but Eight made her feel like an actual female; between the two it seemed that they both gave her what she wanted, but neither gave enough.

In the end, though, Seven did love Nine more, but solely because they had been together longer and their relationship seemed a bit more stable. She couldn't deny that she did love Eight though, and expected that if they were together long enough they'd reach the same stability. Then there was the other dread; the nagging controlled feeling of having to choose one and stay with them only. Seven knew that she had to get past this though, she certainly didn't like it, and was determined to fight for what she really wanted. However, presently, she couldn't tell what she wanted out of life.

The sound of someone approaching took her out of her thoughts. She found it weird that it was so quiet, save the heavy footsteps. That's when Seven realized who was here and was immediately confused. _"He wouldn't, would he? Knowing that Nine and the others are nearby… I wouldn't put it past him." _It was obviously Eight and Seven decided that if they were going to have a repeat of yesterday that she would at least give him something to work for. She pulled her helmet down, smirked, and turned to run through the rubble.

Her ankles were now submerged in puddles at all-time unless she climbed up a bit, but she didn't want to give him the luxury of a visual. Instead Seven forced herself through the less than decent weather conditions to spite him. The rain was coming down heavier while the lightning and thunder seemed to have receded a bit. Climbing over an old tire, Seven decided to stop and instead hide to see whether or not Eight could find her. Dropping down behind the tire, she waited patiently, expecting him to eventually find her.

The footsteps were less detectible in the pouring rain and Seven had to strain to hear them. Basically, though, she was becoming nearly blind to his location, and right when she decided to find another hiding place she finally heard him. A clear splashing noise in the water behind her signaled that he had finally found her and she stood before turning to face him. She was smiling though, because she couldn't say that she didn't want to see Eight.

But it wasn't Eight.

Her breath caught as she saw what was really following her for the last few minutes. Through the thick rain she could see that it was clearly a Cat Beast, not the one she had destroyed during the 'Machine' Incident, and that she had assumed was the only one. It looked more crudely made and its metals looked slight damaged; it was an older beast. The fact that it still was alive meant that she was in for a serious battle. Before Seven could do anything, it batted at her, knocking her off of her feet. Her assumption was correct; this beast was much stronger than the other Cat Beast.

She regained her footing and went to dodge to the side, only to realize that she was slowed by the puddles, and soon received another hit. Now the white Stitchpunk was thrown onto the tire itself, giving her some footing. She was able to escape the Beast's claws and stabbed her spear into its leg. It let out a howl of pain and yanked its limb back before turning to use its other. Then, it suddenly stopped, and Seven couldn't understand why. It was looking at something else; a growl appearing from inside, and Seven looked back and gasped. There was Three and Four, making flashes, seemingly trying to distract it.

Seven used this to leap on its back and try to bring its spear through its armored exterior. "Three! Four! Run!" She shrieked and the twins seemed hesitant until Seven could see Five appear as well. He raised his needle harpoon to aim while Nine appeared with his newer light staff. The green tinted light it threw made a horrific situation even more eerie and Seven tried to lunge for the Beast's head. Something went terribly wrong, she missed, she fell, and before she could run it brought its claws down upon her back. There was pain as the claws struck her hard enough that her vision went askew.

She looked back to see the claw rising, she could hear Nine running towards her, and then there was nothing but darkness.

* * *

**Mable: Next chapter will be up soon, I hope you enjoyed!**


	5. Chapter Five: Combust

**Mable: Chapter Five! I won't say much except that I don't own **_**9, **_**Enjoy!**

* * *

_**Seventh Degree Burns**_

_Chapter Five: Combust_

One was awaken out of a near dead state when a sudden weight dropped upon him. As a reflex he began to fight the figure away. "Get off!" He nearly shrieked, "Get off of me!" He finally shoved whatever was on him onto Two instead, the Inventor sitting up and then crying out, "It's just the twins!" He chuckled lightly at the scene of the still thrashing One and looked to Three and Four only for his smile to drop as he saw their worried faces.

Before he could address this, Eight burst into One's room, knife raised high. "Boss!" He called to One who promptly yanked his blanket up to his neck. "What is going on here?!" he now demanded, keeping himself covered and looking at all of the others with an accusing gaze. Three was the one to show an image of Seven's number upon the wall while Four gestured wildly in panic. "Is something wrong with Seven?" Two asked as he laced his front closed, "Where is she?"

Both pointed towards the wall which faced the closest end of the house as a signal that she was outside and Two understood, "She's outside?" It sunk in to One who managed to finally climb out of bed and begin to fix himself as well, "She went outside and was attacked by something?! I told her that this was bound to happen, I-!" Before One could finish, Eight spun completely around and took off down the hall towards the throne room and the bucket lift.

He was swearing at himself for letting her leave in the morning and not following her, for trusting that she was fine alone, and just hoped she could hold her own until he got there. He could hear the twins now dashing behind him, but wasn't willing to stop and let them by to lead just yet. As he passed through the throne room, Six, who was innocently standing there, ended up in his way. Eight, still determined to get by, practically shoved Six out of the way with the only answer being, "Move!"

While Six picked himself off the ground, a little happy that Eight was talking to him again, Eight began to turn the crank on the lift to lower himself to the ground below. Four had to jump down into the lift and then help his sister land when the lift continued to descend. Once the lift stopped again, Eight was running out of the bucket lift and soon out into the Emptiness, praying he wasn't too late.

He followed the sounds that clearly came from a beast and was at the scene shortly. As soon as he saw the Cat Beast threw the thick rain his vision went red and he leapt forward with a war cry. He couldn't see where Seven was, but Five was nearby, letting out a surprised cry of, "Eight!" The Cat Beast didn't see the larger Stitchpunk until Eight was bringing his knife down upon its side heavily. It didn't do much damage at all, but for a second the Beast stumbled, and Eight was willing to accept anything.

Before any more could be done, the Beast's glowing red eye was punctured by one of Five's needles, causing it to crack before the red light went dim. Since the light wasn't as bright, Eight assumed that it meant that vision was now impaired. He looked around, searching for her, and could see Nine leaning over something, looking distraught. He knew that the pale form lying in the mud was Seven and suddenly thought the worst had happened in the time it took him to travel here.

The anger came back and he again sprung at the Beast, going for its legs, and driving his knife into one. Everything was a blur, metal on metal, pieces shedding upon the ground, and finished with a final blow into the Beast's neck. Eight wanted to keep attacking but was reassured by Five that it wasn't going to be getting up after this. He then turned and felt himself grow both stunned and thrilled as he saw Seven was now moving a little.

Seven tried at least twice to sit up, but kept failing and looked to be in too much pain to do so. Eight was going to attempt to help, but was beaten to it by Nine who helped her to her feet. Typical of Seven, she stubbornly refused to be carried and instead Nine locked an arm around her waist, her arm over her shoulders, and led her back towards the Sanctuary. Eight couldn't say that he didn't feel a little disturbed seeing him hold her so close, but was calmed when Seven acknowledged him and gave him a weak smile.

So he decided not to make a scene and was sure that Nine was just being nice, because he hadn't been able to really help or fight with his staff during the attack, the staff now being carried by the twins. Eight did his own part and carried Seven's spear for her as they headed back into the Sanctuary.

One was nearly ready to go off on a tangent, but held himself back, much to Eight's shock, if he could still feel shock after everything that had happened. Though he knew that the leader would most likely wait until Seven was healed and everyone was calmed down enough to listen. He would eventually say his thoughts, but for now he continued to mutter soft words to Two of 'I knew this would happen' over and over again instead.

He did give Eight a pleased look though; the leader was obviously proud of how his guard handled the situation. However, Eight couldn't think of anything except for Seven's safety, and he stayed lingering in the hall outside the workshop as she was worked on by Two and Five. Waiting patiently, pacing a bit, and trying to suppress the feeling that he had let her down; it felt as though the wait was taking forever. After a half an hour or so though, Two exited the workshop, and Eight followed right behind him as he entered the throne room.

Naturally, Two would inform the leader first, so Eight listened in carefully. "She's fine." He reassured, "She hit her head and her back was torn open, but the head injury is minor and stitches closed up the wound. She should be back on her feet by tomorrow." One didn't show concern for her, but it was clear by the way he stared into nothing that the injuries did trouble him a bit. He gave a brief nod before the Inventor smiled, "She's resting now, so would you like to go 'try' again?"

"Fine," One murmured, "But don't expect me to participate." Eight didn't really understand what they were talking about and decided that Seven was a higher priority. They left towards One's room and Eight headed back to the workshop to see the Warrior. He immediately went to enter the room, but was taken aback by seeing that, again, Nine had made it there first. He was sitting on a stool beside the medical cot and had Seven's small hand cuddled in his own.

Eight heard Nine's softened voice relatively clearly at this point. "Are you sure you're alright?" He asked her and she answered positively, softly, looking tired and worn thin. Eight didn't blame her the slightest, but was growing weary of the way Nine was treating Seven. "You scared us out there." Nine said with a sad smile, "I guess going out was a bad idea… I didn't really think that Beasts really did come out in the rain."

Eight was somewhat relieved when Nine and Seven's eye contact was broken by an unnoticed Five chiming in at the other side of the room. Five was putting things away and unaware of their scene, "Yeah, they like coming out when it's darker and when the weather is rough because they can maneuver through it and we can't, especially Cat Beasts. I-…" He looked back and noticed Nine and Seven together, the hand holding, and changed his tone. "I should… Go see if the- umm- twins are okay."

The Healer took out of the room, passing Eight, and headed to find Three and Four. Eight knew that this scene wasn't just paranoia or in his mind if Five had seen it too and continued watching the two. Nine then spoke up again, "I'll let you rest." He then did something that nearly set the guard off. He leaned forward across the bed and pressed his lips to Seven's forehead. That wasn't the worst part; Seven just smiled and didn't pull away from the other's lips. Eight knew what jealousy felt like, but this was beyond any jealousy he felt before.

Nine wasn't supposed to touch Seven, Eight's mate, like this, and Eight wanted to throw the smaller across the room. Instead, though, he pulled back. Something wasn't right with the way Seven reacted, but he was willing to guess maybe it was from the magnet Seven was forced to use during the mass amount of stitches put into her back. He continued to think that this had to be it, and Nine just still had those feelings for Seven that he had before, innocent enough. Instead of attacking Nine, Eight was determined to confront Seven with this scene.

First, though, he had too much pent up anger inside, and decided to take it out on that one he usually did. He made a line straight back to Six's room where he barged in without a second of notice. Before he could speak, Six looked over and uncontrollably cried out, "Eight!" This was followed by a moment of silence. The guard pondered exactly how long it had been since he had last 'confronted' Six, but soon forced it away. He brought his smirk back up and crossed over. He might have noticed how Six immediately looked down at the floor, but didn't realize that Six was smothering the smallest bit of a smile.

* * *

One knew something was wrong when Two's behavior changed. Usually, when lying in bed they would speak about thoughts or anything that came to mind. They had retired to bed and One guessed that they would begin the third series of 'trying', but was surprised when the Inventor went quiet and faced the wall instead of One himself. The leader continued to watch the Inventor who seemed to be drained of the normal life he contained. "Two?" One asked and Two looked back a bit calmly, "Yes?"

There was something definitely wrong, judging by his sunken look. "Is something the matter?" One tested and received no answer, just silence. After a few seconds, One spoke up, "If this is about our relations, you can't expect me to be spontaneous when we are attempting it every hour on the hour, for a baby." The last part was scoffed, and then corrected by Two, "There _isn't _a baby." It took a few seconds for the words to sink in and One was perplexed, "I beg your pardon?"

Two suddenly sprang up and faced him, distress sketched across his face, and he folded his wringing hands across his lap in a way that seemed to reassure such distress. "We have been trying for days on end. Multiple times a day, once every few hours, and there hasn't been even the slightest bit of evidence to suggest that we are anywhere closer than we were before we started." Two's gaze then caved and his optics dropped to stare into the blankets, "I'm beginning to believe that you were right. We can't have children."

Immediately, One corrected him, "Your logic on souls was more accurate than my assumption of two males not being able to make children. We have them in a way more sacred, more precise, and I am sure it just takes time."

"You say that now," Two chimed in, "But you can't deny what you said before, and you can't deny that what we are doing is- Let's be fair, we might not be doing a thing! We could be trying for nothing, and honestly I'm willing to believe that we are doing nothing except tiring ourselves!" With that he suddenly looked back again, his face looking even more hurt, "We can't have a baby, One. We weren't even supposed to be created in the beginning, why would we be able to create life?"

"Don't talk like that." One scolded lightly, "It is not like we're the machines, we were not born to shed blood, we were born to live. Thus, there must be a way. To create life is perhaps the only luxury we possibly have." There wasn't an answer other than looking away again, so One reached over and lightly stroked his metal hand across Two's opposite cheek and chin, before turning him to face him. "These things take time, love. Be patient."

Two couldn't remember the last time they had use pet names and found himself embracing One and resting his head on One's shoulder. The leader didn't push him away and stroked the number that resided on his back, gently. That's when Two chuckled a bit, "Actually, it is a bit strange, is it not? I have imagined something, not seen or touched it, and I want it this badly. I'm this upset over a nonexistent baby." With that, his chuckles turned into dry sobs for a brief moment. One pulled back enough to meet their lips.

Still distraught, Two didn't pull away.

* * *

Eight had gone relatively easy on Six and taken one of his drawings which now lay on the floor in Eight's room. Disarray could describe the room, but more so described Eight's own thoughts. It was hours later now and he was preparing to go to sleep as he had nothing else to do and yet had to suffer through his warring thoughts. That and the noises coming from One's room nearby, "_Again?_" He muttered to himself before throwing his pillow over his head to either smother the noise or smother himself.

However, he wasn't able to do either, and decided to go patrol the sanctuary. It was his job as a guard anyway, and he exited his room into the throne room before crossing into the other hall. Then he just paced back and forth a bit, down the halls, racing his thoughts through the corridor. He kept himself mostly outside of the workshop in particular. So when the curtain of the workshop suddenly opened he winced, knowing that he had caused this, and looked over to see Seven.

"What are you doing out of bed?" He asked quietly and she smiled a little, "I could ask the same thing, pacing in the hall at night." As they spoke, they didn't realize that again they were being listened in on. Six had heard Eight in the hall and had peeked out of his room to watch the guard and contemplate what he was doing. He didn't mean to again catch Seven and Eight together again, and knew the right thing to do was stop listening, but he couldn't. Six could just listen and try to figure out what was really going on.

Though the Artist made sure to be safely hidden behind his curtain as Eight began to speak again, "Yeah, how are you feeling?" Seven sighed and leaned against the wall, "Good. My back is hurting though, so I'm going to probably be stuck in bed for a while." She went serious though as she noticed him not looking at her, "What's on your mind?" He didn't respond at first, but then the question tumbled out, "What's going on between you and Nine?" Seven felt a feeling of dread growing in her chest and stared at the male, "What do you mean?"

Eight huffed, but was determined to stay patient, and continued to speak quietly, "I saw him kiss you. You didn't pull back either, holding hands, is there something going on?" It was just then that Seven realized that he hadn't known. Even though it seemed like Eight had, even though she thought he had, Eight hadn't know about her other relationship with Nine. Out of reflex, she suddenly came up with a covering story. "Nine was just being nice." She insisted, "And I wasn't in the position to shove him away."

The Guard just stared at the Warrior for a second before exhaling and putting a hand to his head. "I know. Just, with the way Nine used to be all over you, it creeps me out." Outright admitting to being jealous, Seven forced a smile and limped forward. She leaned against his arm and embraced it. "I understand, Eight. It's fine." He put his arm around her in return and they lingered there for a bit. After a few minutes, Eight spoke, "So… You want to-?"

She playfully pushed him away with light laughter, "You go get some sleep." He chuckled, "Yeah, yeah, maybe when you get better. Love you." He pulled her close for only a second to meet his lips onto Seven's forehead, to reclaim the fabric as his own, and she murmured a soft answer, "I love you too, Eight." Then the guard pulled back and started down the hall. Seven waved at him when he looked back and then entered the workshop to let her façade drop.

She collapsed on the bed and covered her face with her hands, "What am I going to do?" she murmured softly, sadly, as began to be even more pressed on finding a solution. With the pain in her back growing more vicious, Seven decided to just get some rest and figure out what she would do in the morning instead of this late at night.

Meanwhile, Six couldn't sleep after hearing that. Salt in the wound; Eight wasn't just making love with Seven, he was unknowingly sharing her with Nine. Unlike before, this thought managed to push Six to a solution that he couldn't believe he would attempt.

Six was going to confront Seven, tomorrow, no matter what.

* * *

**Mable: Will Six confront Seven? Will Eight learn the truth? Will Two end up killing One? Only time will tell… I hope you enjoyed!**


	6. Chapter Six: Scorch

**Mable: The next chapter is here! It's slightly shorter than the others, but I tried to at least give it depths. I don't own 9, enjoy!**

* * *

_**Seventh Degree Burns**_

_Chapter Six: Scorch_

Even with all the work done on her back the previous day, Seven was feeling much better, and had left the workshop in the early afternoon to look at the rest of the sanctuary. Everyone seemed in a relatively good mood. Eight was at his post and One was in his throne, he looked disturbed by something, Six was drawing in the corner, the twins were at the now opened vent to look out at the Emptiness, and Five and Nine were standing by the bucket lift, Five was probably about to head out to retrieve that part. As for Two, Seven couldn't see him, but had heard him talking to Five earlier.

Before she could determine whether to approach the twins or Nine and Five, a hand was suddenly on her shoulder. While she recognized the sharp fingers against her fabric, she still looked back and could see that it was Six who had come up behind her. With a smile she greeted him, "Good afternoon, Six." There was something wrong, like with One, but with Six it could've been a restless night. Indeed, Six had a restless night, but not for the reason she assumed, not because of simple nightmares.

"Need to talk." He suddenly pointed out, nervously clutching his key with his free hand, "My room, please, need to talk now." He then spun on his heel and took off down the hall. With a second to blink in surprise, Seven limped behind him and followed him past his ink stained curtain. In the room he had abruptly stopped and stared the other way unmoving. "Six?" Seven questioned, "What is it? Did you have a nightmare?" Instead, Six turned towards her, his mismatched optics holding a mix of sadness and seriousness, "I know."

Again, she was confused, "You know what?" Six's look turned even more hurt before he corrected himself, "I know about you… and Nine… And Eight." Seven went cold as she felt the same budding terror as when Eight almost figured everything out, "I…"

"I know that you are with Nine, but you've been with Eight too, and they don't know that you're with them both." Six was becoming more vocal and the words came easier as he explained exactly what happened the night that he first figured it out. "It was last night when I realized that… That neither knew about the other." Seven nearly collapsed against the wall, hands on her face, "Creator, Six." She muttered out in distress and Six looked at the ground guiltily.

After a few seconds, Seven looked up, "I didn't mean for this to happen." She defended and repeated, "I didn't mean for this to happen, Six." She then told the entire story of what led up to this to Six, spilling it all out, and the Artist listened without judgment. Once she arrived at the end, Seven finished with her recent problem, "I don't know what to do now. I'm in too deep to back out." Six then voiced his opinion clearly, "Tell them."

Seven huffed a bit at her own problem, "I would, but I don't want to hurt them. I love them both. I just love them differently." The Artist persisted, "It doesn't matter. You can love more than one, they just have to know they aren't the only one." That seemed like the final words and Seven realized he was right. "I know." The Warrior said with a solemn nod, "I've known all this time. I was just… I was just waiting for the right time." Then she shook her head, "No, that's a lie. I've been just stalling time. I didn't want to hurt Nine or Eight."

Six looked away, "It will hurt them more if you don't tell them. They need to know or…." He didn't want to do this, it was obvious, but he spoke in a quiet voice, "If you don't tell them about what's going on, I will." He didn't meet her gaze after that and Seven didn't exactly take his words as a threat. It was the last push she needed though and exhaled calmly. "I'll tell Eight now and I'll tell Nine once I… Get my thoughts together. He'll take it harder."

Six seemed unsure, "He's not emotionless. He can get hurt." Seven raised a stitched brow, "Nine?" Six corrected, "Eight." Seven knew this, but didn't say anything in response. As she opened the curtain to Six's room, she could hear some sort of commotion in the throne room. At first she thought it involved her, but was corrected when Two, who looked shockingly annoyed, stormed into the workshop. The Warrior looked back at Six who watched expectantly, "I'm going now…" He nodded, and she left.

As she headed to see Eight she couldn't believe that they had been caught without her knowing. This meant that more of the Stitchpunks could know, without her even knowing.

* * *

"What is the matter with you?!" One demanded as he stormed into the workshop. Two was leaning against the workbench before he looked back, "I already told Eight I was sorry about that. It's all over." The leader was adamant though, "It certainly is not! You have been acting bizarre all morning! I get out of bed, you begin crying. Five says he's going downstairs, you begin crying. Eight accidentally brushes past and you severely berate him. Thank Creator that only the last one was noticed by the others, less they think that something is seriously wrong!"

Patient Two turned to face One with an unusual glare, "Of course you would say that! Nobody can act like a raging lunatic unless it's _you_!" He then went softer again, "I didn't mean that, One. I'm sorry." He then turned back to the workbench, "Perhaps I am acting a bit strange." One looked at him suspiciously before coming closer, "You are acting- _completely insane_!" He pointed out and Two suddenly broke down again into soft sobs, "I know, One, I know I'm acting strange."

It was causing One to be more confused and now not sure what he could say. "Two, is this about the child?" He asked, "I know you are still unsure, but-." Two again snapped again, "Stop bringing up the baby- There is no baby! There isn't a baby and there isn't going to be a baby! And it's all because I just can't do it… I've failed us, One. I can't incubate a soul; we can't have a baby." He then managed to pull himself together into being obviously depressed, but no longer crying.

With Two acting somewhat stable, One decided to speak again, and continued to be uncharacteristically gentle to his mate even with the confusing behavior. "If this is what is bothering you then you need to calm yourself. Yes, we should accept that perhaps we won't be able to actually have our child, but abruptly giving up will not help us." He decided to angle the conversation, "Did you see any difference when you checked this morning? Any evidence that suggests we are making progress?"

Two shook his head, "I didn't see the need to check. There was nothing when I checked last night." However, One began to attempt to convince Two to check again, so the Inventor gave in and began to untie his front. "Fine, fine." He exhaled quietly and pulled himself open to peer inside. After a few seconds, One spoke, "Any change?" No answer and One spoke, "Two?" Two seemed frozen though, still not answering…

* * *

"Then he just yelled at me. Would've expected it from One, but not Two. Scared the hell out of me, you know?" Eight continued to speak as he was led into his room by Seven who was being relatively quiet. He noticed that her answer was only a nod and raised a stitched eyebrow in confusion, "So what did you want to talk about?" She sat down on his bed, not looking at his face, and spoke so softly that Eight almost didn't hear. "We do have to talk." As though convincing herself of the matter, and she only briefly stood to reach out and grab his hand.

Once it was in her hand, she sat back down and began calmly. "Eight, there's something I have to tell you. It's going to hurt you, but I have to tell you, you have to know." At this, the Guard went immediately serious, having this forewarning feeling that he wasn't going to like what Seven was about to tell him. "I haven't been exclusively with you." Seven spoke with a guilty undertone. Eight had a feeling that he knew what the words meant put together that way, but seemed to be in denial, and asked, "What?"

She paused briefly before speaking again, "I was with Nine, secretly, before you and I started our affair. We never separated." It hit Eight like a wall, crushing the air from his insides, and he voiced his interpretation, "You've been with me _and _Nine." When she nodded a sudden mix of hurt and anger came bubbling up, "You've been with me and him? How can you be with me and him? Does he know what's going on here?!" He demanded answers and was ready to go after Nine if he figured out that the other was somewhat behind this situation he was put into.

"He doesn't know." Seven defended at soon as she saw through the other's intentions to find blame. With this Eight found himself turning to face the wall, resting his hands against it and leaning against it, taking in everything slowly and trying to keep calm. Then he suddenly pointed out the one fact circling his mind, "But you said you loved me." Seven again just nodded, "I do, Eight. But I love Nine too. I love you in different ways. I've found something with you that was missing from my relationship that I have with Nine."

Before she could continue he broke in and spoke. "So _this_, the nights together, the meetings, every kiss, every time we were together, was just a part of your relationship with Nine. You're saying that I was just helping what's going on between you and Nine." The female stood and began to approach him, "No, I'm not." Then her small hand rested against his back gently, "I really do love you." When her hand touched his back he flinched and seemed to migrate away from it.

"Let me guess," He muttered in annoyance, "You love me, but not like you love him." Seven looked away, "Nine and I… There's something there that-." Eight yanked himself away and interrupted, "No, there's not something, not if you came to me to get that something." He dropped onto his bed in a sitting position, "You could've told me in the beginning that you weren't with me because you wanted to be. I guess I was just stupid enough to take this as something that it wasn't."

She still tried to protest these comments, "That's not true. I should have told you sooner, but I thought you knew. Until last night I had no idea you didn't know about Nine and I." He glared, "I like that, I really do, you know. You talk about Nine and you like a couple, and you keep acting like I'm this regret that you just come back to whenever you want something else." She didn't answer to this.

"You never cared about me." Eight looked away, "You never returned the feelings, I should've known it in the beginning. One's right; I am dense." Then he turned away and finished with a softer sentence, "But at least I have morals." Seven blinked and looked up at him, "What does that mean?" Eight didn't look back as he explained, "I'm not doing this anymore. I'm not going to be the regret, the mistake you make whenever he's not around, and I'll be damned if I have this branded on me." Seven tried to speak, "Eight, we-."

"It's over." Eight said with finality, "We're done." Seven couldn't suppress the soft noise of pain that broke through her pale lips and balled her fists into a tight grip, but accepted it without a protest. "I understand." She then turned around and began to head towards the curtain again. She stopped beforehand, paused, and then added in, "I'm sorry, Eight." Then she was pushing through the curtain and leaving Eight's room, leaving Eight. The room thus fell into a perpetual silence.

Eight didn't stop her. He didn't even have the thought that stopping her was a good idea. He just tried to sort out everything that had been told. It didn't seem real, it was like some sort of bizarre dream that haunted him, but he knew that what just happened was no dream. He grabbed his head in weariness and muttered a few negative words towards himself, feeling idiotic, and used.

* * *

Two's voice was caught into his throat and he couldn't get the words out as he was too in shock to answer. Slowly he looked back, "One… I…" One pressed on, "Yes?" The Inventor turned around to reveal what had taken his breath and explanation. At first One didn't know what to make of the scene. Inside Two, against his metal but seemingly floating in nothingness, was a dim light. So small it looked almost like a reflection, but it was clearly not one. It was obviously that it was the soft light of a soul, and not Two's own.

Instead of speaking, Two just suddenly broke out in a soft batch of laughter, thrilled. Then he began to cry again, but they were tears of joy. One's reaction was quick as he embraced Two and held him close, while being careful not to hurt or crush the little soul they had created. In celebration of their baby's creation, they locked lips, and didn't separate.

* * *

It was strange how having your heart and soul torn apart could drive you to doing something you would have never thought of before. He wasn't thinking straight anymore, not since she had confessed the truth, and such led him to stand here on what seemed like the edge of the world. Or, at least, the edge of the roof. Looking down towards the ground there was a lingering hesitance that nibbled at his mind. His greater judgment was clouded by hurt and an increasing need to escape what was occurring. He had loved her this much, and it hadn't been enough.

She hadn't loved him enough.

With that he was finally driven to step forward…

* * *

The winch part wasn't too far away and Five smiled as he saw it and moved it into his bag. It took a few seconds to fit it in around the bag while keeping all his needles, medical tools, and such inside. Then he stood, swung it easily over his shoulder, and began to head quickly back to the Sanctuary. It was a beautiful day after the rain and he smiled as he looked up at the blue sky that carried only a few white clouds through it. Of course, he still had to watch his feet, as the ground was still unpredictable and soaked through to make thick mud. However, he looked up at the sky when he hit a relatively stable area.

That's when he saw something odd on top of the house. He blinked his optic and strained to recognize what that shape was on top of the house. It hit him suddenly that it had to be a Stitchpunk and he wondered if it was Two, working at the Watchtower without him. In a second, Five suddenly realized it wasn't Two as it was obviously too tall, and then had a clear suspicion of who it was.

Then the Stitchpunk began to plummet towards the ground.

Five let out a single cry, followed by the sound of an impact.

* * *

**Mable: The next chapter will be up very soon. I hope you enjoyed!**


	7. Chapter Seven: Extinguish

**Mable: Here is chapter seven. I don't own **_**9**_**, Enjoy!**

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_**Seventh Degree Burns**_

_Chapter Seven: Extinguish_

"_Nine!"_

Then came the cracking noise as Nine's body hit the ground in an impact that sent tremors of fear through Five's frame. He forced himself to run as fast as he could without tripping or being detoured. It seemed like forever before he was at his friend's side, and he gasped as he saw the Stitchpunk lying face down on the ground. He kneeled beside Nine and gently rolled him over to measure the damage. Nine's left leg looked limp and when he touched it he realized that it was out of place. Nine's wrist on the same side was facing a strange direction as well.

Five felt most disturbed when seeing Nine's right optic lens was cracked. The optic itself didn't seem too damaged, but it did demand new glass to replace the lens. The more important thing was to check if he was still alive and Five's bent down to listen against his zipper. There was the dull pulse of a soul; Nine was alive, but unconscious and badly injured. Five still smiled a little for a second in relief before springing into action again. He tugged Nine over his shoulders, carrying his limp body and beginning to run towards the house again.

The trip again seemed to go on forever, especially since Nine wasn't moving at all, but Five managed to make it to the lift and forced the crank to turn with a single hand. Once it moved to the top, Five stumbled out of the lift and headed straight for the workshop. This is when Seven saw them, standing in the throne room. She knew something was wrong and tried to follow, "Five, what happened?!" The healer called back quickly, "Have to find Two!" As though to keep his mind on the task at hand, and the worried Warrior understood and let him go, not wanting to crowd in and cause Nine to not get medical help.

The twins were almost run over in the hall and the two pressed to the wall to let the one eyed one by. Five even noticed Six peering out of his room, but wasn't stopping to speak or explain to any of them. As he burst inside he could see One and Two together to the side and cried out to his mentor, "Two!" He called in desperation and the Inventor seemed to immediately cross the room to him to look at Nine's limp frame, "What happened?" He asked like Seven had, but managed to keep calm, even though his voice betrayed by wavering in shock and concern and Five began to explain, "He fell off the roof!... I… I think…"

Suddenly he was beginning to take in that perhaps Nine had purposely jumped. It made sense, as Nine stood there for a bit before his fall, and Five tried to figure out why his best friend would do something like this as he helped Two move Nine to the medical cot. "Let's fix this wrist first, that should be easy. Then we'll push his hip back into socket and, hmm, I'll look at the optic after that. A few of these stitches on his arm were broke as well. I'll attend to the wrist if you can quickly stitch that back to perfection." Five nodded, moving mechanically, and got a needle out to lace it with black thread.

Two quickly snapped his wrist back into place before fixing himself; Five was too lost in his thoughts to notice that Two's front was open. One, who was standing nearby, announced his presence, "You saw him fall?" No answer. "Five." Five perked up, "Sorry, I was…" The leader repeated, "You saw him fall?" Five nodded and the leader looked back to Nine, "I was perfectly clear when I said that no one should be on the roof alone." Apparently he didn't suspect what Nine did and began to leave, "I will alert the others." Honestly though, Five was aware that One didn't like to watch anyone being worked on and always left at this time.

Five brought the needle through Nine's burlap stitch after stitch, sewing the seam back as it was before, and only then realized that Two was looking at him. He didn't look back until the Inventor spoke, "Did he fall?" The healer knew what the question really meant. It wasn't asking whether the fall really happened, but how the fall happened. "I…" Five began, "I'm… I'm not sure…" Two sent a sympathetic look to Nine, as though he knew the truth, and then spoke, "Let's work on this leg now." To Five's surprise, Two sounded choked up, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes, fine." Two covered up, somewhat hoping that Five didn't remember his emotional outburst at Eight earlier, and they began to push Nine's hip back into the joint. It wasn't an easy job, involving the use of much force, but in the end a loud popping noise signaled that the leg was back in place and in working condition. Next, Two began to feel Nine's head and check his inner metals for injuries as Five went to look and see if they had any glass left. As he did this, he thought back to the fall itself, and slowly he was coming to a new solution.

"Two," He started pitifully, "I think he might have done it on purpose." Two didn't answer, but he knew his mentor heard him, so he had a feeling that there was a silent agreement.

With One, he had entered the throne room where the others, save Eight, were looking very concerned. Especially Seven who was before One in less than a second, "Is he okay?" The leader nodded, "He is stable. Five said that he fell off the roof." Three seemed to wince and buried her face into her brother's shoulder while Four pat her back caringly. Six, on the other hand, had this look of complete dread, and if it could have the color would have most likely drained from his face. Seven shook her head sadly, "How? How could he have fallen?"

Whether or not One suspected anything else, he was determined to convince the group that Nine, indeed, had just fallen. "Perhaps he was just too close to the edge. The end of the roof is sloped and perhaps water was still on it from the rain." Then he straightened, "I think that it is necessary that I make it a rule that groups of no less than two shall go onto the roof at once." The Warrior couldn't believe how he was immediately beginning to use the incident to make more of his laws, "One, is this really the time?!" She hissed out and he retorted.

"Of course it is! This is exactly the reason why nobody should be alone on the roof and is the necessary time to make this permanent." His voice grew a bit quieter, "I am going to go alert Eight of this." Then he made his way out of the room, leaving the Stitchpunks in silence. Seven stared at the spot One was presently with an unreadable expression until one of the twins approached and hugged onto her arm. She wrapped a free arm around the younger and began to try comforting them.

One entered Eight's room to see him lying on his bed face down, and opened his mouth to speak. "I thought you had to run off to Nine." Eight suddenly interrupted, sounding clearly annoyed, and One was nearly insulted, "I beg your pardon?" At that the Guard suddenly looked back, "Oh, Boss, I thought you were S-." he caught himself, "Someone else." The leader huffed, "Clearly. You heard about what happened to Nine?" Obvious by Eight's apathy, he didn't know, "What happened to him now?" One explained quickly, "Nine fell from the roof. While he's stable now, I am making it law that nobody goes onto the roof alone."

"Nine fell off the roof?" Eight had the same expression as One did when his guard had reprimanded him, "How'd he manage that?" The leader looked at the wall for a split second, "The roof was slickened by the rain so it was bound to happen." It was obvious that not even he believed this theory anymore. He then turned away, "I must go see Two. Have you simply decided to spend the rest of the day hiding in this room?" Eight was staring at the floor, lost, "Yeah." After a second, he made it clearer, "I meant; Yeah, I'm coming."

One exhaled, "Fine. If you change your mind and decide to keep hiding in your room then at least take some time to straighten up." He looked at the disarray around the room, "Though I doubt it would be possible." Then he left and began to head back to the throne room. He huffed to himself. Two was acting bizarre because he was carrying a child; what exactly was everyone else's excuse?

Pain was all over. In his leg, his arm, his back, but especially in his head. Right above his optic and spreading through the entire side of his face. When Nine opened his optics he was immediately taken aback by how bright the light above him was. It sent a surge of pain through his head and he groaned, only to hear a noise from the other side of the room, "Nine?" Nine looked over to see a blur approaching that looked suspiciously like his best friend. "Five?" The healer came completely into view and leaned over the zippered male with relieved smile.

"How are you feeling?" Nine moved around a bit and winced, "Everything hurts. What happened?" The one eyed male seemed hesitant, but then explained, "You must have lost part of your memory in the fall. You fell off the roof." Of course, Nine then remembered, and immediately remembered that he hadn't fallen at all. He had jumped, but wasn't about to tell Five, and instead muttered out a question, "How did I survive that fall?" Five didn't answer at first, then spoke softly. "Well, actually, Stitchpunks are pretty resilient in this way."

He began to ramble, "Parts don't break, they just come out of place. Though I had to replace your lens." He continued to talk as Nine's optics caught movement at the door. Looking up he could see One and Two through the crack of the curtain. They looked upset especially Two who had his head resting in his hand pitifully. By now, Five noticed his gaze, and stood, "Should I go tell them you're okay and awake?" Nine slowly nodded, his head spinning as he made the slightest movement.

The healer headed to the door. He said something to Two and One and then entered again. Two smiled, smothering a concerned look, "Well, look whose finally awake!" Nine found it odd that all three of them began to crowd around him looking all pleasant. Five and Two smiled while One looked passive and he answered, "Umm. Yeah." Two chuckled, "How are you feeling?" Nine rubbed his head, "I have a headache, but I think I'm okay." They seemed relatively eased and Two reached out to pet his head gently, "That's common. You hit your head quite hard."

The next few minutes were just random chat about every detail of their work on him. Nine was a little lost though as his thoughts went to what had happened. _"What was I thinking?!" _He mentally scolded, _"Jumping? I thought that would help anything?! All I did was just make myself hurt more. Why did I even do-?" _Nine's thoughts silenced as he remembered exactly what happened beforehand. He had been leaving his room when he heard Seven and Six's conversation. He had never felt so hurt before, even with the pain in his injured parts the pain in his center echoed, and he let out a soft inhale at the sensation.

The others seemed to notice and Five came closer, "Nine?" Nine forced a smile and waved it off, "Just feeling like I'm about to die, but other than that I'm okay." The joke seemed to calm the healer down. However, Nine wasn't that naïve; he recognized how One and Two suddenly shot a look to each other. One murmured something and then Two nodded before smiling again, "We should let you rest." The Inventor insisted and put an arm around Five's shoulders, "Five, perhaps we should leave for the time being?" Five nodded innocently and followed with Two as Nine knew this was somewhat set up.

One didn't leave and Nine glanced up at him. He was rewarded with a solemn look and he looked away slowly. "Is… Something wrong, One?" Nine asked slowly and the leader answered with a stern question, "Was it intentional?" The burlap one meant to sound like he didn't know what the leader implied, but instead burst out with, "Of course it wasn't. It was an accident- I accidentally fell off the roof- I wouldn't jump." But it sounded so much guiltier than he had intended it to.

One had been this patient up to this point though and reached out, laying a hand on Nine's arm, "I already know what happened. It would have been better to have you be mature enough to admit it, though." Nine burst out again, "It was an accident!" Then he let another thing slip, "I wasn't thinking of what I was doing!" One closed his optics and exhaled, "Be honest with me, Nine, I need to know this much. Will you be back up there?" Nine tried to shake his head, but was growing more tired, "One, no, I'm not going to go back up there alone ever again."

"I believe you." One answered surprisingly and made another shocking gesture when his hand moved to touch the younger's shoulder, almost petting him. Nine knew that One knew everything now and started to recoil by curling up on the cot. As he turned away, One's hand slid to his back, and rested their briefly. "If you need someone to talk to…. Two is always willing to do so." Whether it was One's idea of humor or not, Nine could tell that One actually was concerned, and when he didn't respond One soon left to let him rest. Nine needed the rest too.

Nearly minutes after One left, he heard the curtain open again and had a feeling who it was even before words were spoken. He knew it, and made sure not to look back, and soon was spoke to. "Nine?" Seven's caring voice only disturbed him more as she was what caused him so much pain. "Seven…" He responded quietly and she soon was by his side. "One said that you…. That you fell off of the roof. Are you okay?"

He huffed at her innocent tone and responded, "Everyone can stop acting like they don't think it. I know what they're thinking and I'd rather me come out and say it than they just assume it." The Warrior wanted to know the truth and thus pressed, "You didn't fall." Nine felt a mix of pure anger and stinging hurt, "No, I didn't fall, I jumped." A soft gasp and he sat up, "Yes, I-…" He immediately collapsed back onto the cot from a throb of protesting pain that circulated all over his body.

"Nine, what were you thinking?!" She demanded in horror and sadness, "You could've died! Is that it?! Were you trying to kill yourself?!" Nine retorted back just as loudly, but his emotions the exact opposite, "I don't know what I was doing! All I know is that I did it!"

"But why?" Seven asked softer and Nine looked away again, "I know what you've been doing with Eight." Seven closed her optics and took it in; she had a feeling that he knew in only the moment after he admitted jumping. "Did Six tell you?" She asked and he shook his head, "No, I heard you and him talking." She paused to get herself together, now feeling terrible, and spoke, "Nine I-."

"I don't know how you could do this to me." Nine said quieter as the anger melted into sadness, "You said that you loved me." There was another moment of silence before Seven started again, "I don't know what happened, I needed something and I… I do love you, Nine." Nine retorted quickly, "It was a weird way to show it." He then shook his head weakly, "Just… Just leave me alone. I just want to be alone." She didn't argue and even though she didn't want to go, she did, and left the room so that he could be alone.

She then went to her own room to be alone as well; to revel in the horrible mistake she had made and face the consequences.

* * *

Six knew the truth, but if everyone was going to pretend that Nine only fell then he wouldn't say anything. Especially when One was now attempting to draw the other's attention to announce something. Hopefully not what Seven and Eight had been doing behind closed doors. "There is something that I must prepare you all for. Because Seven is with Nine I will tell them after they have calmed. This is very important however, and…" He trailed off and pointedly glared at the empty spot beside his throne; Eight was still gone.

Before the Artist could even register it, he stood up, "I'll get him." And then quickly made a line straight from Eight's room without even stopping to think of what he was doing along the way. He knew this was a mistake, but if Nine was willing to do that, then Eight could do much worse. Six knew that Nine knew too; it was just too coincidental to be anything else. His steps slowed as he approached the doorway and he was barely moving as he pushed the curtain open. Thankfully, Eight looked alright, sitting on his bed with his knife in his hands.

As much as it scared Six to see a distressed Eight with a knife, he still didn't leave, and tried to speak. The words wouldn't form as he tried to say something. Thankfully, Eight heard his footsteps, "I know, Boss, I'm coming." When 'Boss' didn't respond, he looked back, and Six was spotted, "What are you doing here?" Usually these words came out in an intimidating way that scared Six. Though now they came out sounding tired and nearly emotionless.

"One…" Six forced the words out, "One wants you to… He wants to say something… In the room- throne room." That came out a lot worse than Six intended, yes, but Eight got the meaning and began to stand. "Yeah, I'm coming." Guilt overtook Six as he could tell that Eight was certainly upset about what happened with Seven. The Warrior, who he was giving his everything too, had left Eight and hurt him all because of Six's own encouragement. "It was my fault." He suddenly blurted out, not realizing what he was doing until after the sentence came from his mouth.

The guard looked back in confusion; Six didn't talk enough to suddenly cry things out, at least not things like this. "What's your fault? Being born?" There was the half-thought comment that Eight would throw at Six whenever he had time. It didn't faze Six anymore and he found himself admitting his role, "I… I heard you and Seven… I knew what was going on and told Seven to tell you and Nine about…" He trailed off and looked to the floor.

It was a mistake, he knew it, to admit to Eight exactly what part he played in the entire ordeal, and he waited for it to sink into the other. He felt the heavy footsteps towards him through the vibrations that seemed to shake the floor; or maybe he just paid closer attention. He knew Eight was towering above him and nervously waited for the reaction he'd receive. Then it came down, Eight's hand, and stopped on Six's shoulder.

The reaction was surprising and Six optics widened as the hand pulled back, "Thanks." Then he started around Six and out of the room. The Artist tried to get answers, "But you're… You're not- I ruined everything. You should hate me." Instead of another half-thought comment about Eight hating Six, Eight responded with a shrug, "It was going to happen. I can't get any lower in everyone's eyes, but I'm not low enough to do something like that. I wouldn't have been with her if I would've known."

It relieved Six, something about the comment, and he responded, "I don't see you as low." Another comment he didn't mean to say, but at least he managed to actually look up at the other now, pen tipped hands wringing each other and dripping ink down upon the floor. He had never seen Eight smile at him before. There were brief hazy memories, maybe something during the Machine Incident, but Six hadn't ever received a smile.

It didn't matter how the other still looked visibly downtrodden and somewhat upset, the smile was still there, and it felt great for Six to see it. "I needed that." The taller answered and gestured for the Artist to come out with him into the throne room. Six followed behind him loyally and for once felt remarkably normal.

As soon as they entered, Eight immediately noticed Seven who, by how the twins had their hands on her, just dragged her into the throne room. He looked away from her and refused to give her the satisfaction of anything less than normal behavior, taking his place by One's side. One acknowledged him before looking to Two who was also nearby and then began. "We have brought you all here to announce that there will soon be a new addition to the sanctuary."

Perhaps it was the stress of everything that made Eight blurt out, "You didn't find another one out there, did you?!" One sent him a glare while Two chuckled a bit, "No, not at all, it's a bit different than that… To explain such, there is something One and I also have to bring into the open." As much as he wanted to tell the others about their relationship he found himself taking a second to brace himself, "One and I have…. When two Stitchpunks grow very fond of each other they decided to…"

One took over at this point and took a blunt approach, "Two and I are a couple. We have been together for quite some time and have exchanged vows; we are mates." Once he finished there was a period of silence, no one said a thing, until Seven willed herself to speak. One and Two were shocked by what she said. "We know." That blunt and outright, causing One's optics to widen in alarm, "What do you mean 'we know'?"

Seven looked to the others and Five took this as a cue to speak, "I… Umm… Walked in on you a while back in the workshop and figured it out…" Then Seven continued, "Back in the Cathedral I walked in that time that Two was on your lap. It was obvious." Then Eight spoke up, "Hell, I've walked in on you two so many times that I can't even count anymore. The worst time was trying to get out without letting you know I was there a few nights back."

One and Two just stood there, the same reaction of absolute horror on their faces, and One cleared his throat, "I see… Now that I have lost all sense of privacy, the Stitchpunk who is joining us our own creation." Two found his own words and smiled at the thought, "In a short time I am going to have a child. We're going to have a baby." While Seven looked surprised, the twins looked excited, and Five looked thrilled, both Six and Eight looked confused from the comment. The term 'baby' being foreign.

"That's great!" Five spoke up, "Are you sure?" Two nodded vigorously, "Yes, absolutely! I would be happy to show you if you would- Perhaps later." He corrected with a chuckle as he noticed One giving him a look that showed he was absolutely against the thought. Now Six actually spoke up, "What's a baby?" Seven answered him, "It's a little Stitchpunk that's young." She then looked back to Two and forced a smile even though other things still bothered her mind, "Congratulations."

The Inventor smiled as well, "I'm glad you are all so supportive. The baby will take much work and a lot of attention, but we both knew this when we began trying." Two smiled back at One and the leader gave an uncharacteristic, soft smile in return. Five now spoke up, "I'll go tell Nine." Five hurried into the workshop to tell Nine the good news. He was ecstatic; they would soon have a new Stitchpunk to play with and to care for.

As he burst into the workshop he was immediately detoured when he noticed that Nine was curled up in a pained position. "Nine?" He approached softly and the other let out a noise that sounded remarkably like a sob. "Nine, are you okay?" His friend looked back a bit and let out a choke, "Five… Help me." The healer came up behind him and tried to assist him, "Are you hurting again? I-I can get you a magnet to numb it if you-…" He was cut off as Nine took his hand and squeezed it pitifully.

"Just stay with me… I just… I just don't want to be alone." Five didn't understand what was leaving Nine like this, but sat on the stool by him, and held his best friend's hand loyally.

Unfortunately, Nine wasn't the only upset Stitchpunk in the sanctuary. Even after the wonderful news Seven was feeling empty and retreated to her room. She had a feeling that she'd be alone in this room from now on. She might have just lost Nine and it left her blaming only herself. She had caused this. The only question now was what would come soon, if anything.

For now, though, Seven was alone.

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**Mable: The next chapter is the FINAL chapter and will be posted in a few days. I can't believe it, the final chapter, another fic coming to a close… A few people guessed the identity of the one falling off the roof; I'd give them prizes, but I have none to give, I can't even reward myself for anything anymore. ^-^ I hope you enjoyed!**


	8. Chapter Eight: Afterburn

**Mable: The final chapter… It's already here, my goodness, and quite rushed. I would like the thank everyone who read and give extra thanks who those who reviewed! I don't own **_**9, **_**Enjoy!**

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_**Seventh Degree Burns**_

_Chapter Eight: Afterburn_

It had seemed like forever since Nine's injury and the revealing of Two's pregnancy. Things hadn't changed too much, but Eight had managed to somewhat recover from what happened between Seven and him. In fact, recently he had begun attempting small bits of speaking with her, and she seemed slightly glad that he was doing so. Though he had noticed how upset she had recently been and decided to not yet get involved.

At the moment he was working on another knife, a newer one that he had found and was trying to mark a decent handle for. His thoughts, mostly lingering on Seven's new behavior, were interrupted by a weight on the other side of the bed. He knew who it was by the lightness of the movement and spoke, "Hey." It was a relatively pleasant greeting, considering that Eight was seconds from throwing the knife, which was refusing to cooperate, into the wall.

"I… I made you something." Six's voice was soft and perhaps a bit hesitant, as fear of whatever he wanted to give being denied. For the while, since Six had told Eight of his own role in what happened, the two had grown closer and were now safe enough to be listed as friends. Since Six didn't show him the picture, Eight asked encouragingly, "Can I see it?" The Artist's hesitance continued, "It's not good." Eight still persisted, putting down his knife to turn to his companion, "Come on." He pressed a bit playfully and finally the striped one handed the drawing over.

It didn't occur to Eight that there was a chance that it was going to be a picture of himself. It was, though, of him fighting something that wasn't on the paper, and Six stared at the floor as he waited for approval. Unlike the guard's old behavior where he would tear up the paper immediately, he actually looked at it, and was impressed. "Managed to make me look pretty badass." He complimented, perhaps to himself, and Six immediately began to smile, "You do that well enough on your own."

The comment was regretted, Six felt like he spoke out of line, but Eight didn't take it as a negative. "It's really good, Six." Six exhaled a held in breath and collapsed down on the bed beside Eight, "I thought you were going to hate it. I didn't do as well as I should have." The guard looked back at the picture and decided that Six was being too critical. "You shouldn't be that hard on yourself. It's like looking in a mirror, except I look like I'm about to kill someone." He sort of glanced around as though looking for a place to put it when Six moved onto his knees to lean around Eight's shoulder, "Is that the new one?"

He gestured to the knife which Eight proudly lifted, "Yeah. This one will be a Beast slayer if I can just get the handle to work out." He adjusted the nail he was using as a grip to show its stability, "See, I can't get it to stay on this time. The other ones worked out fine, but this one is giving me some trouble. It probably needs more wire and for some reason I'm running out quicker than I did on the last few." After his description he found himself suddenly paying a bit more attention to something else, or someone else.

Six was leaning against him, curiously watching as the guard adjusted the nail, and the warmth of his striped canvas brought back memories. It felt good to have someone interested again. To have someone against him, the comfort of fabric against fabric, and it confused him. Before Eight could ponder this anymore, there was the dull sound of footsteps approaching his curtain. Six straightened himself from Eight's shoulder and looked over while Eight continued to address his knife, both expected it to be One. Six's soft intake of surprise proved it wasn't.

Ever since the fall, Nine had begun to spend all of his time in his room alone, in bed. Six had realized that he was battling a deep depression after everything that had happened, but was unable to help. The only ones able to reach Nine at this point had been Two and Five. Some days Five would spend an entire day in the room trying to help Nine feel better; talking and trying to engage Nine's interest. Some days Two would go to attempt the same thing and end up falling asleep, from his pregnancy, and Five would have to eventually retrieve him.

Nine had not seemed to have gotten any better through the days. Six had not even seen any more than a lump in the blanket of his bed since the fall itself. This would be exactly why seeing Nine walk through the door was so un expected. Eight had nearly the same confusion as he looked over to see the burlap one. "Hey Six, Eight." Nine greeted with a somewhat forced smile. Just seeing part of a smile was an incredible change and Six immediately covered his surprise with pleasantries, "Hello Nine." He tried to sound like everything was fine and normal; to counter, Eight just stared at Nine in confusion, not saying anything.

The zipper one rubbed the back of his neck, "Eight… Could I talk to you for a second?" The last thing Eight wanted was to be alone with Nine who was liable to break down at any second, but Six interrupted any thought he had of declining the offer. "Okay. I'll go and let you two… Yeah." The striped one headed to the door, waved a little to Eight, and was soon gone. Eight now looked down at his knife as he knew exactly what Nine would have sought him out for. There was only one thing they had in common.

"Eight…" Nine began, "I need some answers." Eight gave a nod, "About Seven? Yeah, I know." He wasn't rough with the comment, just a bit unenthusiastic. Seven wasn't exactly what Eight wanted to think about anymore. He had been happy enough to attempt to move on without her making her way back into his life. "About when you two were together…" Nine began slowly again, "Did you know? About me and her?" At this, Eight put down his distracting knife, and decided to clear his name.

"No. I thought that it was just me and her." Eight answered honestly, "The second she told me I stopped it. That second." Nine slowly nodded and exhaled a bit, "I sort of guessed that." He leaned against the nearby wall and stared downward before Eight spoke, "Have you talked to her?" Nine shook his head, "I just…" He huffed, "I can't, not after what she did, I can't." Eight promptly retorted, "At least she didn't tell you that being together was just to help her be with someone else." This caused the other to look confused; Eight was more than willing to explain.

"She told me that she loved me, but not like she loved you. She only came to me to get something she had lacked with you." Eight's fists tightened, "She loved you and she used me. I should be the one that's mad. And I was, and I am, and I'm getting over it, but you're not." Silence filled the room as Nine realized he was right. "I need to get over it." He repeated, "And I need to talk with her… Thanks, Eight." Eight shrugged, "Doesn't matter. If this happens again, I'm not giving up the next one to you, be warned."

It was a joke, but it eased the mood considerably, and Nine let a real smile show as he exited the room to find Seven. Seconds later, Six was back, "Are you okay?" He immediately asked and again Eight shrugged, "Yeah, nothing happened." The Artist seemed relieved and retook his spot to watch Eight work. The guard managed to smother whatever was left from Seven and continue on.

* * *

While life seemed pleasant, if hopeful, Seven's had hit a painful rut. Since the truth came out about her and Eight, Nine and her had stopped speaking at all, and she had gone mostly reclusive. Most days she was gone and some nights she didn't return to the sanctuary at all. The others simply assumed it was her normal behavior, save the few who knew about what really happened, and nobody had yet taken action.

Today, though, Seven was waiting. Sitting in her room waiting for anything to happen. She felt empty as she stared at the walls of her room, wanting something to stop the voice in her head that blamed her for wanting so much. Nothing ever droned out the guilt's screams though. Not that she could take back what she did, apologies meant nothing, and it was best to stay separated from the others, less she hurt another like she hurt Eight and Nine.

That's when she heard someone at her door and assumed it was the twins. They frequently came to coax her out of her room and make her spend time with him. Looking over she gasped as she saw that it was the one who plagued her thoughts. "Nine?" He looked hesitant too, maybe he felt the awkward tension, "Hey Seven…" Neither knew what to say at this time so they just stayed in their prior positions before finally Nine came closer and sat beside the Warrior on the bed, "I think… We need to talk."

The female nodded in agreement and tried to think of the words to say next, "Nine, what I did was wrong. I have no excuse."

"I know." Nine answered solemnly, before sighing, "But it happened because I wasn't giving you enough. It wasn't only your fault." She huffed in annoyance at herself, "No, it was. What I did was the worst thing I could have possibly done. I betrayed you, I betrayed Eight, and I ruined us." The burlap one sort of shrugged, "Either way, I'm not mad anymore." He now looked to her with an unreadable expression printed on his face. "I want to figure out what we're going to do now. Until then we're just sort of…" He paused, not knowing the words to say, but Seven knew what he was saying.

"I know you can't trust me again." She started, "But I'm hoping we can eventually get past this, somehow." Nine nodded as well, apparently wanting to move on, "I… I don't think we can be like we were before this happened… But I want to be friends again. And maybe if everything goes good we can try to get back to what we were before." With this he released a smile, the first he had in a long while, and Seven found herself smiling back at him. Then she leaned in and embraced him for the first time in so long that it felt like it had been forever.

He didn't pull away.

Their moment was soon interrupted though when Five abruptly entered the room. "Seven?" He caught the two and looked away, "Oh I… I didn't know you two were… I just…" Both pulled away, "We were just talking." Nine insisted, still seeming quite pleased at their meeting, "What's wrong?" Five now smiled a bit, "Two brought him out and is letting everyone see him. I thought maybe Seven would like to come see too." The Warrior stood as well, "I always have time to see One's replacement." The comment caused some laughter from Nine and a chuckle from Five.

They soon entered the throne room where Two was the one on the throne. One was circling like a winged Beast, watching everyone with distrust, as though he knew they would do something he wouldn't like. Meanwhile, said others were now looking down at Two who was proudly cradling a little form in his grasp. Seven had only seen him once prior to this and approached the throne.

Two, pleased to see both her and Nine out, beckoned them closer to see the baby. Only a few days old, Twenty-One resembled his parents quite nicely. Small, narrowed optics scanned the room, trying to figure out whatever he could about the world, and his equally small fists were squeezed into tight balls and resting close to his body. He was certainly cute. It was also the first time Nine had seen the new Stitchpunk and he reached out, "Can I-?" Both of the parents knew what he meant and Two released an, "Of course." While One retorted with an, "Absolutely not."

Apparently Two was the victor as Nine was allowed to touch the little Stitchpunk on the arm. His fabric was soft and brand new, clean and unmarred, and when he touched its balled up fist it released a grip to instead lock on his finger. At that second One began a long speech about how proud his was of his son, his tight grip, and what will be his tight grip as the next leader, and Nine glanced over at Seven.

She smiled back at him and for the moment everything seemed perfect. They weren't what they were, but maybe they could be again, of maybe they wouldn't. Either way, everything was looking up. It could only get better from here.

* * *

**Mable: That's it, the end, finished, nothing more, end of story, not another word… For now… I hope everyone enjoyed reading as much as I did writing, and I hope you continue to read more of my fics! ^-^**


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